Having secured a female participant at the eleventh hour (much more difficult than I'd anticipated) our thirteen volunteers from across the Junior section met at the rugby club on a beautifully sunny Monday morning. After the short walk up to Palace Green, we met the RFU organisers and after having inspected the limited playing area (two pitches on the green where one would have been ideal), we were told that the ethos of the day would be largely non-competitive with no overall winner.

With the Web Ellis Trophy and legend Jason Leonard arriving in the background, the games kicked off, with Houghton, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland providing the opposition, all of whom had a good mix of ages and genders. The games were competitive despite the confined space, with plenty of tries scored (both of our teams managed to score five tries in some of their games), with commendably few against us. Special mention should go to Rachel Brown who joined us for the morning from Bishop Auckland rugby club, and acquitted herself brilliantly including scoring a try (perhaps the only female scorer?), before going on to represent her own club in another tournament at BC School later that day.

The most enjoyable morning was rounded off with pictures with Mr Leonard and the Trophy (new FB profile pic pending). As a new coach it was great to meet some of the boys and parents from the other age-groups; thanks again to all who competed – you are a credit to the club.

Players:

Rachel Brown
Sam Hanson (U13s)
Michael Graham (U13’s)
James Bates (U15’s)
Sam Dawson (U15s)
Leon Turnbull (U15’s)
Josh Hanson (U15’s)
Tom Hanson (U15s)
Nick Ingram(U15’s)
Will Hodgson (U16’s)
Rob Milbanke (U16’s)
Matt Conley (U17’s)
James Cook (U17’s)