Henry Dowswell Mini Rugby Festival - U9s

With poor weather conditions and 6 strong opponents today was always going to be tough for Sidcup U9s.
3 players made their rugby debuts for Sidcup:- well done to George Saint, Charlie Turner & James Wylde.

Match Report for Sidcup U9 – Assassin’s

The Sidcup Assassin's made a fantastic start against Colfes and again our defensive line looked impenetrable with tackle after tackle being made by Sidcup as Colfes dominated in offence. After Colfes were awarded a try, Sidcup immediately responded to leave the score 1-1 at half time. Another closely battled second half and both teams could only be separated by a dubious try awarded to Colfes, the refs obscured view meant he'd failed to see the ball was a clear two feet short of the try line? To the credit of the Sidcup players they did not moan, argue or protest but accepted the refs decision as final, as they should and continued to battle on. Final score Sidcup 2 - Colfes 3.

As the icy rain began to fall, next up was OE's and Sidcup had a fire in their bellies for this game and proved to be an equal match for a very strong and well-drilled OEs team. An inspired all round team performance lead by their captain, saw every Sidcup player contributing in the tackles that ultimately earned a well deserved 3-2 victory to Sidcup.

With all the other group games on pitch A complete, the Sidcup Assassins final game was against Beccs. A win would earn a joint top spot finish or a draw would earn a joint second place. After an extended break the players reluctantly took off their warm clothing at the last possible moment and with the icy rain getting heaver it was clear that the cold had set in. The Sidcup team absent of their captain looked like ice sculptures as the Beccs players run in three easy tries. Sidcup again showed great character as they battled back with a stronger second half performance, but the damage had been done and a jubilant Beccs celebrated a comfortable victory over a debilitate Sidcup 4 - Beccs 8. This meant the Sidcup Assassins slipped down to fourth place and would meet the Sidcup Badgers in the Shield final.

Match Report for Sidcup U9 – Badger’s

On what was a cold and wet day the Sidcup’s U9 Badger’s found themselves in a tough Pool B with Aylesford, Beckenham and Edenbridge. All the players were looking forward to playing in their Home Festival with two players making their debuts for Sidcup in a competitive fixture, George Saint and Jamie Wylde.

First up were Beckenham who although started the game with only 7 players, ironically didn’t let this numerical disadvantage hold them back and with the aid of some dismal tackling from the Badger’s went ahead with the first try. Very shortly with both teams at full strength the Badger’s soon found their feet and got a return score. Whilst the final score line was 3-2 to Beckenham and a well-deserved victory it was, the final result really should have been 3-3, as one of the Badger’s had made a fantastic break and had burst through 2 -3 tackles, leaving bodies strewn in his wake to then proceed to touch the ball down early on what on a regular Sunday was the training pitches try line but was actually 2 yards short of the Festival try line!!

Next up were a well-drilled Aylesford who taught the Badger’s what it meant to counter-ruck with some really strong aggressive displays, however, both teams were tackling well and on the official half-time it was still 0 – 0. I say official half-time as the referees timekeeper was frantically trying to get his attention without success to let him know it was half time but the ref played on, awarded a scrum to Aylesford who then finally managed to break the Badgers’ line and score. Sidcup immediately scored from the restart and were looking good, with Aylesford scoring again and Sidcup getting another. But a further two unanswered tries saw the final result 4-2 to Aylesford (3-2 in my book, but it’s the ref’s one that counts!!). Another Well Done to Jamie Wylde who made his debut against what turned out to be the strongest team in the Festival. Although a quiet debut, he was clearly saving something for the final.

Our final Pool game saw us play our good friends at Edenbridge, sadly the Badger’s left their “tackling-heads” on the side-line or was it the cold that made them forget? Anyway at halftime Edenbridge were a couple of tries up and I’m afraid to say that some truths had to be told. The Badger’s started the second half well and showed their Coach that their tackling wasn’t “rubbish” and managed to conjure a few tries too, however the damage had already been done in the first half and with another couple of tries Edenbridge proved to be worthy winners with the final result being that Edenbridge scored more tries than Sidcup.

They should be very proud of themselves because as it turned out they were in the tougher pool of teams on the day. All the teams in this pool won their respective finals with Aylesford winning theirs 5-0, Edenbridge 3-0 and Beckenham 1-0, so they should be doubly proud to have done so well against their opposition on Sunday.

U9 Shield Final - Sidcup Assassins v Sidcup Badgers

Throughout the Pool games both Sidcup teams had showed great determination, a fantastic team-spirit and coupled this with the ability to score tries from anywhere on the park. They were all respectful of the referees decisions and gracious in both victory and defeat with the vigorous shaking of hands and 3 cheers after each match. Both teams put in great performances in what turned out to be a corker of a match with true champagne rugby being played, if you count, the 3 other finals only had 8 tries altogether, THIS FINAL had 11. The Badgers’ were the eventual winners in a thrilling 6-5 encounter with 2 tries scored by debutant George Saint and Jamie Wylde making what was possibly a try saving tackle on one of the Assassins.

All in all, whilst a cold day it was also a great one for Kent Mini Rugby. To see mini rugby being played with such passion and enthusiasm by all the teams is a great testament to rugby and bodes well for future years.

A big thank you to all the players, parents and coaches from all the clubs attending our Festival, we hope you enjoyed your day and eventually warmed up.