u13s Fanstastic Folkestone

U13s Kent Development Shield

The Folkestone advance party had a great time watching England securing the Grand Slam with a drink or two before retiring back to the hotel - nothing too heavy as we needed to make sure the players got their beauty sleep and made the most of the lay in! With big breakfasts on board it was off to Folkestone RFC.

Many hands helped to set up camp for the day in a matter of minutes much to the teams already in situ astonishment (we were like a well oiled machine) but what a welcome relief the team tent provided from the wind !! The boys all looked like a pro squad in their new training tops and soon settled into warm ups and drills. With lots of changes to the format of the day due to teams dropping out, we were the only group unaffected and remained in the only group of 4 for the afternoon session.

Group Games

Sidcup vs Old Colfeians

Great concerns over the age/size of one of the opposition players were quickly quelled when it appeared he was part of the coaching team (thank god!) although there is still some doubt if they were fielding a Yr 9 player.

Early handling errors lead to OCs scoring in the first 2 minutes - a worrying prospect with only 10minute EW games. Sidcup quickly regrouped and the forwards dug in and won scrum after scrum - winning the ball every time without fail - with quick passing and gaps opening up in OCs defence Luke managed to score in the 9th minute with Ben M converting to equalise. HT 7 all. The second half started much the same as the first half ended - with Sidcup leading the play - the ball was fed though to Luke who managed weave his way over the try line for his 2nd try of the day & Ben M converting again in the 12th minute. Next followed 5 minutes of fraught defending too near to our line for comfort - and a mistimed fumbled pass was quickly used against us and meant we conceded a sloppy try in the 18th minute. FT 14 - 14.

The boys were disappointed with the draw but as Dave & Tom were quick to point out it was by no means a loss, and they had shown moments of great rugby - we were level pegging with OCs, the remaining 2 teams were yet to get started.

Sidcup vs Medway B

We played Medway recently and had good result against them, so this was possibly the game of least concern - not that we told the boys this! They were quick to set the pace with Luke scoring again in the first two minutes out wide down the wing. The restart drew a knock on and the scrum got down to business and quickly regained possession - the ball was recycled and Gene ran through to score a well worked try, Ben M added the extras to bring the score to 12 with 5 minutes played. Medway started to tackle hard and made Sidcup work for every play - eventually breaking through their line Alfie scored a cracking try with a good overlap just in case he was chased down. HT 19 - 0. The second half was largely uneventful - good tackling, better passing and awareness of position were rewarded in the 17th minute with Freddie E crossing the line for his first of the day. FT 24 - 0.

Medway coaches were complimentary about our rugby and wished us well for our final group game. Tom was forced to utter words he never wants to repeat again - the forwards were helping to win the games for us - a big compliment indeed from the Backs man!! Dave was quick to jump on this and rallied everyone to dig deeper for the next game. This certainly put an added spark in to everyone - as next up was Sevenoaks.

Sidcup vs Sevenoaks

Sevenoaks were well drilled, big lads who looked like they meant business - there was very little to separate the teams in terms of game play - each team tackling, passing, and using space - right until the stroke of HT when BW went over to score the only try of the game. Sidcup took the game to the Mighty Oaks and threw everything into it with some bone crunching crippling tackles on the rock hard ground - it was not for the lack of trying that the score was not increased - a massive effort all round. FT 7 - 0.

We knew we had done enough to qualify for the quarter final but had to wait until the last group game had finished to see who we would face Aylesford Bulls or Darts.....

QF - Sidcup vs Dartfordians B

The local derby was on! Darts were in a group of 2 (due to drop outs) so had only played 1 game (over 3 hours - compared to our 3 games) and one or two players were heard commenting to our players how tired we looked and that they were going to smash us - so it was a tad fraught before start to say the least!

Lots of argy bargy and questionable tackling soon resulted in Darts drawing first blood and scoring the 7th minute. The restart seemed to take them by surprise because the ball was quickly played across the park and into Luke who ran in for a quick 5 points - a ridiculously tight angle for Ben M was bang on target but dropped just short of the posts. The final play of the first half saw Darts punish huge gaps at the back (as commentated by our eye in sky on the balcony Del who could see what was happening from up above) HT 5 - 14.

The second half got off to a flyer with another quick Sidcup try - this time by Billy, Ben M with the conversion meant we were back in the game. What followed can only be described as nothing short of outstanding - the boys all had the bit between their teeth and were simply flawless. They were ready for the restart, set and waiting for Darts to join the game who were just dawdling up the field (trying to waste time)! Forgive me because at this point timings and notes ceased to be written down and the vocal chords were giving up completely due to the fact the next 8 minutes resulted in 3 YES THREE Sidcup tries (2 Luke 1 Freddie E) - it was a HUGE team effort and complete domination of the game that broke Darts spirit - their heads went down they were slower and slower at the restarts and a particularly dirty tactic nearly resulted in Tom getting involved on the pitch instead of from the side lines. We could not believe what we were witnessing - the final whistle could not come quick enough to put Darts out of their misery! FT 33 - 14.

Congratulations to the whole team who took part:

Alfie, Billy, Ayo, Ben C, Ben M, Ben W, Freddie E, Freddy B, Gene, Harry, James, Joe P, Joe R, Josh, Kieran, Luke, Mitchell, Nathan, Sam D and Noah (who did a grand job with his arm in plaster carrying the water bottles to ensure the boys were taking on fluids).

Feedback from Dave and Tom...
Dave: Please tell the boys how extremely proud we all are of them.
Special mentions from Tom to Ben M in the first game for winning 4-5 scrums against the head!
The two biggest tackles I've ever seen from luke in the game against Sevenoaks!!

Stats for the day
Point conceded 28
Points scored 78

Tries
Alfie 1
Billy 1
Ben W 1
Gene 1
Freddie E 2
Luke 6

Conversions
Ben M 9 / 12

The transformation during our transition into the juniors has been a slow burn process but finally the hard work, training, determination and confidence as a team is paying off - we are through to the Semi Finals on the 10th April along with Old Colfeians, Gillingham Anchorians and Sittingbourne.

Thank you to everyone who came along to support - and especially to those who helped with getting other players along on the day - we simply could not have done it without helping each other out - a truly team effort all round!!