The late arrival of the real under 8's ability was such a shame!

Boston Under 8's travelled to Spalding to take part in the Spalding festival, whilst Boston Under 6 and 7's trained at home.

Boston were drawn in Pool A, alongside Spalding A, Stamford A, Lincoln and Sleaford.

In game 1, Boston were really not on form and certainly not playing to their ability. Defensively they allowed a very good Stamford too much freedom to run at them, never closing them down, and in attack were themselves closed down too quickly. At quite a few times, the inexperienced refereeing was not in Bostons favour, but Boston were not playing at their best and ran out with a loss of Boston 0 - 7 Stamford.

In game 2, Boston again were suffering the same problems with no width to their defence and not closing players down against Spalding. At the restart Boston were too close together, and gave Spalding far too much time on the balll. The final score was Boston 2 - 4 Spalding, with Willis and Roberts scoring for Boston.

In game 3, a completely different Boston emerged to play Lincoln. In defence they played with a good line, closing the opposition down, defending fantastically, and apart from a few restarts due to players offside, were almost faultless. In attack they were clinical, making some excellent mazy runs. Boston ran out clear winners with Boston 6 - 2 Lincoln the final score. Scorers for Boston were Nicholson, Willis (2), Turner and Henson (2).

In their final pool game, Boston needed to win to have any realistic chance of progressing to the plate final. Boston were again rejuvenated and again demonstrated the game 3 form against Sleaford. The final score was Boston 5 - 2 Sleaford, with Willis (2), Turner (2) and Young scoring for Boston.

The outcome of the tournament was that Boston tied alongside Spalding in second place, but due to the decider being the team that scored most tries in the first three games, Boston lost out to Spalding who progressed to the plate final on tries scored. In what was a "so could have been" day, Bostons late form may just have cost them that chance. Positives can be taken from their game 3 and 4 performances, which would have made a match for any opposition - well done all!

Boston Under 6/7/8's now train in preparation for the Boston festival on April 1st.

The full Boston team was Vickers, Young, Willis, O'Callaghan, Roberts, Henson, Nicholson and Turner.