Oaks U12s had two squads on the road for a great day at Ealing Festival on Sunday 23 October, winning all their matches against tough opponents.
The Stripes squad in the A/B Festival opened their account with a win over Wasps, by 2 tries to 0. Next up were Rosslyn Park, a team that going back over several seasons has had the upper hand against this particular Paddock vintage. So we were very much looking forward to the opportunity and thanks to solid tackling and great 'go forward', Oaks won 3-0.
The next two matches were rather scrappy encounters with the Stripes running out 3-0 and 4-0 winners over the hosts and Bank of England. Arguably the best performance of the day was saved for last, with a lot of the hard work in training coming to the fore in a 4-0 victory earned through fantastic support running lines and pressing defense over an impressive Farnborough squad.
The Sharks in the Development Festival were on top form and started strongly with a 2-0 win over Farnborough.
They next faced the hosts, Ealing, in a very close contest that saw the navy and gold boys from Kent putting in their best display of the day to secure a 3-0 victory. The closing matches against Saracens and London Welsh, both victories thanks to outstanding defensive qualities and a great all round team performance, were won 3-0 on another top day for this impressive set of lads.
A huge amount of credit o the organisers and all the players for making it a sporting occasion played in the best spirit.
Sharks at the close of an outstanding, unbeaten day...
...and the Stripes were also invictus of Kent.
SQUADS: Stripes: Juan Barnard; Oliver Caradas; Johnnie Fitzmaurice; Henry French; Archie Heslop; Oliver Langley; Ruben Le Roux; Daniel Record; Tamer Salahi; Zac Schaeffer; Jacob Seaman; Ivan Solomakhin; Dominic Stangroome; Henry Thompson; Samuel Vick; Elliot Wright: Sharks: Thomas Bampton; Harry Corsini; Felix Crispin; Peter Gilmartin; Sam Keenan; Theo Marsh; Jimi Ogun; Patrick Staunton; Quinn Taylor; Dewi Ronbinson; Oliver Smith, and James Willimont.