Maidstone Festival

So after easing the boys in gently weather wise at the sunny Foxbury and Bromley festivals; today they got their first taste of proper rugby weather and a soaking wet Maidstone !

Conditions were pretty horrible, with the car park a quagmire let alone the pitches; so credit to all the boys and parents for pitching up so early and to Mark and the guys for getting the gazebo up before we all arrived.

So onto the games:

1) SRFC - 4 vs. Medway - 8
A tough opener on what was a huge pitch for U7s rugby; Medway were a good side (and went on to be unbeaten all day) but Sidcup were a bit slow out of the traps and seemed to have temporarily forgotten how good they are at grabbing tags.....we were soon 3-0 down.
A spirited rally after half time saw us edge back into the game, but unfortunately we went down 8-4.

2) SRFC - 3 vs. Cranbrook 3
A really tight game, in which Sidcup showed fantastic effort and resilience to come from behind 3 times. It was a really good tight game between 2 evenly matched teams and a draw was a fair result.

3) SRFC - 5 vs. Aylesford 2
Things were beginning to click now for Sidcup, we had re-discovered the art of tagging, the boys were now beginning to dominate their opponents, ferocious and relentless in defence and clever and incisive in attack. Some of the running, lines and passing belied the boys age and experience and was a pleasure to behold.

4) SRFC - 8 vs. Beccehamians 2
An unbelievable way to round off the day; Sidcup simply outclassed their opponents in this one; as the pitch got heavier and heavier, Sidcup simply got better and better. There was some great tries scored, and they simply didn't give their opponents an inch - romping into a 6 nil lead. Understandably in the second half Sidcup took their foot off the gas and Beccehamians to their credit scored a couple of good consolation tries - but it was a pretty comprehensive victory. Like last week, our chairman Jim Fitch was watching this game and he approached me after to say how brilliantly you'd all played and how well we'd represented Sidcup Rugby club.

So can I end by saying really well done boys - these results mean that we have only lost 1 game in our last 9 which for a fledgling team is remarkable - you should all be really proud of that achievement; I know me and the other coaches Christian and Steve are, as well as our team manager Mark. Over the 3 festivals I think our record is Played 12; Won 5, Drawn 4, Lost 3 - so not a bad start at all to the season.

We're back at Sidcup next week for training - and look forward to seeing you all then - hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder !

Cheers, Stuart
Under 7s Coach