Today saw the squad travel to Fareham and Gosport for its first tournament of the year, the Hampshire U13’s Cup. With our new arrivals into the team and a number of “regulars” enjoying the world cup matches it was a totally untested and new looking side we fielded for this event, headed by our new coach Leon – nothing like a baptism of fire Leon!

We had a 4 team pool match with the winners progressing to the triangular Cup final. It was a quick blast 7 minutes each way set up and our first opponents were Winchester Wizards. It wasn’t the slickest of starts, with many boys in new positions and the new format took time to settle down but it was a nice easy win 2-0. Petersfield stepped up next and were dispatched with the same scoreline 2-0 for a comfortable win. I cant for the life of me remember what team we faced next, its been a very long day straight after coming off a night shift!, but it was a tougher fight with a 2-1 win, leaving the boys needing a good talking to from Leon and Aiden to get them back into the groove. Tottonians wee the final match to decide our pool place and suddenly Chichester kicked into a higher gear, doing what we do best, running the ball and scoring tries to emerge 6-0 winners.

As pool champs we progresses to the cup final triangular with Tottonians A first up. A truly inspiring game saw us completely overwhelm the opposition. Our attack was fast, unrelenting and slick, with our boys tackling with ferocity that the opposing team just couldn’t cope with. The match finished 6-0.

The final was against the hosts Gosport and Fareham who had also beaten Tottonians and were up to win their home trophy. Chichester however were totally in the zone for the win and G&F never really even got into our half. Massive tackling, huge scrummages and rucking like we hadn’t seen all day kept G&F pinned and under pressure. The tries started coming in and it was a very comfortable victory 3-0, with 2 further tries disallowed. A fantastic team effort with the boys just working so well together and putting heart and soul into every movement of the matches. It was all topped off with a typical stylish try at the end with George Fountain out on the wing picking up a beautifully placed crossfield kick from Louis Blanshard at fly half. Nice way to confirm the win!

So, first event, first victory of the season, nice piece of silver for Leon's first game with as a Chichester coach. 2015/16 season here we come!