Teams up – Bartholet Liam – Dimond Oliver - Dimond Luke- Gillespie Charlie - Gordon Matthew - Kaye Jack - Loder Zach - McDonald Louie- Millett Benjamin – Mockford Imogen- Neale Edward - Stangroome Edward
Sevenoaks "Dragons" took on four teams on Sunday in tight fixtures at Cranbrook in the High Weald. First was a Medway side full of big units. A rigid Sevenoaks defence kept them at bay with the Dragons managing to dominate in skill and tenacity. We snuck away with a 1-0 win courtesy of a Charlie Gillespie try in the left corner. The Beccehamians game followed a similar format and the Dragons put them to the sword with powerful runs from Jack Kaye and Liam Bartholet. Another Gillespie boshing try and Olly Dimond's jinking run into the corner gave us a 2-0 win.
Heathfield 1, a strong "select" side were altogether more challenging. In spite of sustained periods of possession, we couldn't break their line and we conceded several breakaway tries against the run of play. Dragons went down fighting 0-3 with Luke Dimond in particular tackling his heart out and clearing out the rucks all day. Haywards Heath then faced our resurgent Dragons side, which dominated play and displayed excellent support play and midfield runs especially from Imogen and some superb defence - in particular from Zach Loder and Edward Neale. Edward Stangroome, Louie McDonald and Matthew Gordon all showed improving skills. We won the fixture through two more Olly D tries to nil.
The final game against the hosts, Cranbrook 1, was unfortunately cancelled to make way for the arrival of an air ambulance on the U10 pitches. A sterling morning's work by the Dragons.
Thanks Steve Brook for sending this in :)
The Sevenoaks U10s travelled North of the Thames for the second weekend in a row, this time to Saracens for the curtain raiser tournament of the European Championships Cup match vs the Scarlets.
The Oaks started off against the toughest opposition of the day, Tabbard. Huge tackles and awesome rucking from JC Vermulen and Benjy Collingwood enabled them to stay in the game against very physical opposition. The first try of the day was a squeeze over the corner from Joel Walter running a great supporting line. Both teams then battled hard and traded scores. When the final whistle blew Oaks were up 3-2, deserved winners.
Then came Southend, who the Oaks had met the previous weekend at their home ground. On neutral soil (or astro) it was a different story with the Oaks taking control of the game from the start. The final score was 8-0 with 7 different Oaks players scoring tries, a true team performance. Edward Thompson and Henry Lewis led at the front retaining possession and Hamish McQueen distributing the ball from one side of the park to the other at scrum half. The tries in each corner from Kyle Cameron and Lars Hansen were a perfect end to the best game of rugby the Oaks have played so far this season.
The Oaks were buoyed for their last game against Harpenden after meeting some of the Saracens premiership players, in particular Ben Earl who started his rugby in the U10s at Sevenoaks! Will Brook took this huge energy boost on to the pitch with 4 interception tries. Tom Hyde put in the tackle of the day driving his opposite number back 10 yards. Brennan O'Keefe scored a champagne try after some wonderful down the line passing. Another 8-0 victory. Saracens went on to take a leaf out of the Oaks book winning against the Scarlets 44-26.
The Falcons swooped down on an unsuspecting Old Colfe’s festival on Sunday. Ben Kay, Oscar Goodwin, Ethan Henrey, Harry House, Sam Kay, Elliott Knowler, Oscar Owen, Charlie Mottram and Max Westrate were in awesome form!
First up, Dartford – winners of the Cup from our last tour, so we had a score to settle! It was obvious from the start that it would be settled, with the Falcons tackling strongly and playing lovely flowing rugby to set up try after try. Our 7-1 win shows the strength of our great team-play. Charlie Mottram’s direct running was particularly noticeable, regularly punching holes in the Dartford defence. Harry House also impressed, with real turn of speed and running in a fine try.
Next up were TJs. The Dartford win in retrospect was a shame, in that the players hadn’t really got used to a hard-tackling, aggressive team. TJs certainly were that – very organised, very tough and very loud from the off! The Falcons tried their best, but couldn’t cope at this stage with their superior pressure and strength. We lost 6-1. We should highlight our one try – Max played amazingly on Sunday, running like lightening, showing great balance and intelligence throughout. His try against TJs also showed another side of him, which reflected the spirit of all the Falcons; grit and determination. Max literally had 4 TJs players hanging off him, trying to pull him down, and he kept going, kept going, kept going, until he just got the ball over the line. Awesome!
We sadly had one casualty from the TJs game – Charlie injured his leg and had to rest up. We were however very pleased to welcome Elliott Knowler into the Falcons as a replacement.
The hosts came next – Old Colfes. It would have been easy for the Falcons’ heads to go down after the TJs result, but we were the opposite – fired up and determined to show that the mighty Oaks are winners! We did – 5-4. It was a brilliant game – two evenly matched sides playing passionate, committed rugby. We should highlight a great team try owing to real pressure from Ben Kay, his brother Sam and Oscar Owen. Their persistence and “pressure, pressure, pressure!!” caused OCs to make a mistake on their try line. Ben grabbed it and went over – well done all!!
Our final game was against Cranbrook. TJs drew against Cranbrook, so this was going to be a hard game. We had however properly warmed up – there was only ever going to be one result – the Falcons won 3-1! It was a very tough game – the tackling was immense. Elliott and Ethan both came very close to scoring, with searing runs through Cranbrook, but just getting caught by them at the last minute! We should also highlight the fired-up Oscar Goodwin, who nailed their largest player with a tackle that took their player into touch and left him requiring a rest! This was just however a demonstration of the spirit of how all the Falcons played – as a team, totally committed and playing with real pride.
So – a good days work, 3 wins and 1 loss. If only TJs had been the team we played after Old Colfes!!"
Jez Goodwin
PS from Jane..please send in any photos of the day and I can add them to the blog
Here are the team lists for the remaining festivals this year. Please let Toby know if your child is not available. Training at home as normal from this Sunday, the 23rd.
23rd October Cranbrook festival
Cranbrook Rugby Club, Tomlin Ground, Angley Road, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 2PN
Time: TBA
Details: TBA
Bartholet Liam
Dimond Oliver
Dimond Luke
Gillespie Charlie
Gordon Matthew
Kaye Jack
Loser Zach
McDonald Louie
Millett Benjamin
Mockford Imogen
Prescott Gerran
Stangroome Edward
30th October Beccehamian festival
Beccehamian Rugby Football Club, Corkscrew Hill, West Wickham BR4 9BB
Time: TBA Details: TBA
Beazleigh Ben
Carrick Sandy
Chaboissier Clovis
Chambers Jonny
Colesmith Eleanor
Coogan Conor
Farmer Montgomery
Goodwin Oscar
Henry Ethan
Kay Ben
Kay Sam
Knowler Elliot
Lee Harry
McCann Sam
Macleish Jack
Millard Bruno
Mottram Charlie
Neale Edward
Schaeffer Alec
Tansley Sammy
Taylor William
Wishart Jamie
Wood Josh
6th November Aylesford festival
Jack Williams Ground, Hall Rd, Aylesford ME20 7DS
Time: TBA Details: TBA
Bartholet Liam
Bouverie Harry
Brook William
Bussey Kammy
Cameron Kyle
Carrick Sandy
Collingwood Benjy
Coogan Conor
Dimond Oliver
Dimond Luke
Esposito Luca
Hansen Lars
Hyde Thomas
Lewis Henry
Lines Peter
Lowndes Freddie
McQueen Hamish
O'Keefe Brennan
Prescott Gerran
Richardson Oliver
Staunton Rory
Thompson Edward
Vermulen JC
Walter Joel
13th November Farnborough festival
Farnborough RUFC, Tile Barn Cl, Farnborough GU14 8LS
Time: TBA Details: TBA
Bartholet Liam
Bussey Kammy
Chambers Jonny
Colesmith Eleanor
Drysdale Charlie
Gillespie Charlie
Gordon Matthew
House Harry
Kay Ben
Kay Sam
Kaye Jack
Loder Zach
Lowndes Freddie
McCann Sam
Millett Benjamin
Millard Bruno
Mockford Imogen
Owen Oscar
Schaeffer Alec
Short Mitchell
Stangroome Edward
Tansley Sammy
Taylor William
Wood Josh
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On a very wet October Sunday morning, 2 teams from the Sevenoaks U10s braved the journey north over the Thames to take on the best of Essex at the Southend festival. On arriving, the rain lifted and the rest of the day was as dry as the performance from the Oaks was immaculate. The Sevenoaks Cheetahs and Lions were undefeated, which is the 3rd year in a row for the U10s at Southend. They each despatched Southend 2, Maldon, Westcliff, Barking and Rochford, with only Southend 1 coming close, holding the Cheetahs to a draw.
All the players were immense, with awesome rucking and mauling and hardly a single missed tackle. After straight hard running in the first few phases, the ball was thrown down the line with most of the players getting on the score sheet. Special mentions go to Harry Bouverie, who was returning from injury and took to rucking and mauling like a duck to water and JC Vermuelen who led from the front with his straight running and numerous turnovers. The victorious teams were:
Sevenoaks Cheetahs: Harry Bouverie, Conor Coogan, Luke Dimond, Oliver Dimond, Luca Esposito, Montgomery Farmer, Thomas Hyde, Peter Lines, Brennan O'Keefe
Sevenoaks Lions: William Brook, Kyle Cameron, Benji Collingwood, Lars Hansen, Zach Loder, Freddie Lowndes, Imogen Mockford, JC Vermulen, Joel Walter, Josh Wood
PS Please send Jane any good photos for the blog.
Just a reminder, there are two festivals plus home training. I will add more details about the festivals when I have them. Good luck to all the teams.
Southend A Festival (2 teams). Warners Bridge Park, Sumpters Way, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 5RR
Brook William
Cameron Kyle
Collingwood Benji
Coogan Conor
Dimond Oliver
Dimond Luke
Esposito Luca
Farmer Montgomery
Hansen Lars
Hyde Thomas
Lewis Henry
Lines Peter
Loser Zach
Lowndes Freddie
Mockford Imogen
O'Keefe Brennan
Thompson Edward
Vermulen JC
Walter Joel
Wood Josh
Old Colfe’s B festival (2 teams). Old Colfeians Rugby Football Club, Horn Park, Eltham Road, Lee, London, SE12 8UE.
Bartholet Liam
Beazleigh Ben
Chaboissier Clovis
Chambers Jonny
Goodwin Oscar
Gordon Matthew
Henry Ethan
House Harry
Kay Ben
Kay Sam
Knowler Elliot
Lee Harry
McCann Sam
McDonald Louie
Macleish Jack
Millett Benjamin
Mottram Charlie
Neale Edward
Owen Oscar
Short Mitchell
Stangroome Edward
Wishers Jamie
Tomorrow (the 15th) is the deadline to register and pay the deposit for the 2017 Sevenoaks Minis & Juniors Rugby Tour to Great Yarmouth 28 April - 1st May.
Email steve.brook@outlook.com and Gillespie_szabo@hotmail.com the names of EVERYONE travelling and the age groups of the player(s). Pay a deposit of £40.00 per person (eg. A family of three will pay £120.00). Online payments can be made to the bank account given in the initial email. Use your surname as the reference.
The children are being introduced to rucking, mauling and scrumming. Just to remind you what Toby said at the start of the season about the maul:
- A maul forms when a tackler and ball carrier are joined by 1 other player from either team. The ref should call ‘Maul’.
- Only 2 players from each side, including the tackler and the ball carrier are allowed in a maul. This is going to be difficult to ref!
- The ref will allow a maul to last for 5 seconds and then call ‘use it’
- If the ball is not passed out of the maul then it is a turnover ball.
Here's a link to the U10 rules:
http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/MyRugbyAcademy/CourseResource/01/31/97/17/RFURegulation15Appendix4U102016-2017_English.pdf
Another fantastic effort from all the players today. We were unbeaten at Warlingham and Blackheath. Bromley was a bit more challenging with 3L, 1W, 1D. However, all players had a fun time and did themselves very proud. It’s difficult to gauge the strength of tournaments this year with the changes to the RFU guidelines, so we are finding A teams turning up at some ‘mixed ability’ tournaments (as we did at Bromley) and at others (e.g. Warlingham) where the opposition is not so strong. Please bear with us whilst we get to grips with the changes. Next week should be better as we have 1 A tournament and 1 B tournament.
At Blackheath the results were…
Whitgift - we won 6-0
Dartford - we won 10-0
Blackheath - we won 9-1
Old Dunstonians - we won 8-1
Rosslyn park - draw 2-2
So we were unbeaten and every player bar one scored. Great tackling and support by all. Top scorers - Sammy, Freddie and Conor (five each) with Oscar and Henry next with 4 each.
At Warlingham the results were…
Team 1:
11-0 Old allenians
12.0 Old cats
3-1 Warlingham
Team 2:
9-2 Warlingham
8-0 Reigate
11-0 Wimbledon
The pitches were huge and favoured quick runners…. Try scorers for team 2 were Hamish McQueen 10, Rory Staunton 4, Luca Esposito 3, Lars Hansen 3, Joel Walter 3, Tom Hyde 2, Olly Dimond 1, Sam Kay 1. All the players played really well as a team, with some fantastic rucking, great support and wonderful passing play spreading the ball out wide. Despite there not being any winners in the new RFU regime, we managed to win 2 cups
What a great start to the season today. The Guildford A and Foxbury teams were both undefeated, playing some wonderful champagne rugby in the sun. The Guildford Bs won 2, lost 2 with one of these only by 1 try. The Medway team had a tough day coming up against some strong A team opposition despite us entering what we thought was a B tournament. However, they battled on very admirably and ended on a high beating Maidstone in their final game. All the teams were getting their heads around the new rules along with us coaches and referees!
Things for teams to improve on included:
- Don’t bunch around the ball – spread out!
- If you are first to the breakdown don’t watch – get stuck in! We need to make sure we support players and get to the rucks and mauls first.
Lots of wonderful play to be very proud of though.
On Sunday 5 October five squads from Sevenoaks Under 10s visited competitions at Guildfordians, Canterbury, Medway and Foxbury. All the players did incredibly well adapting to new technical rule developments featuring the introduction of scrums, rucks and mauls.