EC u16s Festival at Ipswich RFC 07.04.14

Strolling to the warm-up

Hop-a-long

Poised to spring. Note one of many 'borrowed' players for the day.

A very blustery day.  

We had 14, which meant we borrowed a couple of props for each game from other teams. Credit to Wolfie (Bury), who played all our games and has been hopefully recruited permanently for next year. Great to see Simmo on the touchline supporting the team.

Shed showing everyone his ballet moves.

George looking on in horror. 

Ally has a ball painfully extracted.

Callum brings down is prey. Alec tickles him under the arm.

Alex looking to drive Theo into the ground...

Tournament format was each team plays 4 matches of 14 minutes, with the top 4 out of 7 contesting semis and a final. Hadleigh up first. Hadleigh open scoring 5-0, then its the Ali show...great break and try followed by tough conversion. 7-5 Holt final score.

Everyone following the ball intently. Apart from Pottle who is surprised to be on a rugby pitch and has no idea that a ball is about to come his way. Bless.

The Titus show. Ball nicked and he's away.

Beats 'The Hair'. No it's not a girl, they were a touring team.

The break is on. No, they're not tattoos, they were a touring team.

Titus making faces.

More Titus.

A bit more Titus.

Yes, it's Titus.

Chobham (a touring side from Surrey) up next. Chobham scored early in first period under our posts. 7-0. Titus then nicked the ball from the back of their scrum and ran 60 metres to score. 7-5 half time. Second half, we were not looking good, in fact possibly playing some of the worse and most disjointed rugby seen all season. The coaches and parents weren't amused.. that was until Callum ran one in from our 22. 12-5 final score.

George inspects the new hookers tackle.

Three onto one. Good luck Alec.

Ally has his shirt sponsor scratched.

Caz looks for some friends.

Ipswich next. We have already played them twice this season and the boys knew it would be a tough encounter.  0-0 at full time, a harbinger for what was to come! Holt much better in this match, great commitment and effort.

Colchester meet the Holt defence.

Some rugby is happening somewhere in there.

Caz showing how to stand on the wing.

The Ipswich players look on in awe at Holt's flair...

Jacko and Titus take on the whole of Colchester.

The final group match was against Colchester, who had a huge squad and some huge individuals. Holt went down 5-0 but it was a hugely spirited display. Our squad of 14 was getting tired now, but the "good news" was we finished in third place so made it to the semis where our old pals Ipswich lurked, ready to resume hostilities.

Shed looks to take a swipe at the ball.

While the rest of the team get stuck in, Alex pulls out.

Matti saunters into play.

Caz encourages one of Holt's loanees into the fray.

Theo plays pat-a-cake with the opposition.

Another front row line up.

Theo tries to take home a souvenir for the day.

The whole of Holt watch while a little man steals a cool box.

Ally successfully ignores the Tiger making faces at him as he prepares for his kick.

Sudden death and up walks Mr Casual Callum to slot his over.

Holt celebrate the 2 - 1 win in the penalty kick-off.

Jenks is astonished as Beaker from The Muppets tells him about his rugby prowess.

The semi was titanic - I doubt any of the boys will forget it. Again, it was 0-0 after 14 minutes.  So we played extra time.  0-0 after a further 7 minutes.  Changed ends. 0-0 after a further 7 minutes. The lads were out on their feet now. Ipswich had been held up twice over our line. A decision was made to take penalty kicks, 5 lads from each side. Ali kicked our only penalty, going second. The 5th Ipswich kicker evened the score up. Sudden death. Callum was our designated 6th kicker.  He sauntered up and slotted the ball. Mr Casual. You almost suspected he did not want to make it... It was too much for the men from Ipswich. Holt were in the final!

Everybody looks on...

While Colchester get stuck into Alec, Shed warms up in the background.

Captains and Coaches are given a little lecture.

A massive day of rugby comes to an end. Great performances all round.
Everyone was absolutely whacked by the end of the day. A great way to end the season.

 Colchester were up again for us in the final, having won all their games. We borrowed a couple of Walsham lads and gave a really good account of ourselves but in the end Colchester ran out deserved winners 12-0. 

Captain George and runners up egg-cup.

George collected our runners up trophy which will no doubt be displayed prominently in the new club house. This was the last competitive rugby played by our lads as a team as they move up next year to Colts level. It was a great way to bow out.  

At the end of the day...

Mel makes up with the Ref after being told earlier to 'Get back to the bar luvee...'

Holt and some imposters.
Thank you everyone who helped from all the teams competing. 

Bring on the bowling and the Spring Roll Challenge!