Stratford 10s Festival

On a beautiful morning in Stratford a wonderful day was had by all at the traditional end of season 10 a side tournament, although the weather turned a tad biblical towards the end of the afternoon. Many thanks to all at Stratford Rugby Club for a very well organised day filled with burgers, beer and the odd game of rugby. Our under 14s played well with little reward and will look forward to the new dawn of next season.

Match 1.

Moseley 12 -19 Droitwich

This was the “must-win” game. Despite going behind early, Moseley dominated the first half. It has to be said that 10s rugby takes a while to get used to but the Moseley forwards gradually gained control of possession, taking the hits but staying on their feet and giving a good platform for Archie to spread the ball wide.  Jack Lester found it difficult to break the game line and Cavan got few opportunities to show his speed. Eventually the pressure told and Jack eventually got his reward beneath the posts. Brandon duly converted as Moseley continued to gain the ascendancy.

The second-half continued as the first had finished and Moseley pressed hard to take the lead. It has to be said that the second try was scored by the least likely. As the lifetime holder of the TOSPOT award (TOp Scorer of Points for the Other Team) it was unlikely in the extreme that Fitzy would bother with the effort but he somehow crashed over the opposition line following great work from Ollie Brown and Cavan.

This was the zenith of the festival for the U14s and from here there was a collective contraction of lethargy for 5 minutes which allowed Droitwich to pinch the game. Even after this Mose had several opportunities to at least tie the game but with uncharacteristic generosity they contrived to drop the ball, knock on, trip over, and generally come up with new and interesting ways to throw the game away.

One that got away!

Moseley 0 – 46 Worcester

Enough said. Beaten by the winners.

Moseley 40 – 5 Stratford

So, we avoided the wooden spoon. It had to be explained to several of the players that we did not “win” the wooden spoon. Some of these children go to grammar schools! Tries galore against a dispirited Stratford at least saw a victory to end the season. We managed to get to the bar before the heavens opened.

Many congratulations to our U13s and U16s who won their respective sections, with the 16s winning for the 3rd year in a row (well done Danny!).

My reflections of this festival and this season are that we are not as good as we think we are. We need to work hard to get back to the level of Worcester and Ledbury. There is undoubtedly the talent here but we need everyone to be “on the ball” to be able to compete with the top teams.

My thanks to Craig Lea, Ian Lester and Tim Clay for their dedicated coaching throughout this season, also to Moira Boot for organising everything in her inimitable way. I hope to see you all at the Moseley festival this Sunday.