3rd Annual XVs Tournament

With the pitches freshly cut and the lines looking sharp, competitive rugby returned to King's Lane after the summer hiatus for teams ranked level 10 / 11 / 12.

In Group A, Egham Hollowegians were joined by returning champions Chobham III and a Thamesians XV, while in Group B, league rivals Woking took on Chipstead and Old Rutlishians.

Thamesians established themselves as the early favourites, comprehensively beating both Egham Hollowegians and Chobham III to top their group. Meanwhile, in the other group, Old Rutlishians came out on top, with a single try victory over Chipstead followed up with a four-try routing of Woking.

With the top two teams progressing to the knockout stages, Chobham III and Woking were left to battle it out to avoid the wooden spoon, with the latter managing to notch up their first win of the day with a 7-0 victory.

In the first Semi-Final, the as yet unbeaten Old Rutlishians faced Egham Hollowegians, who had struggled to get points on the board in their opening matches. Yet, it was the hosts who struck first, with Leonard Miller using his pace to finish on the wing. This was added to just before the break, with Dave Kelly knocking over the conversion. After the break, Old Rutlishians battled back, and reduced the deficit to just 2 points with 30 seconds remaining. Egham Hollowegians were awarded a penalty, but declined the kick at goal, and instead punted for the corner. The tap back from the lineout went astray, giving Old Rutlishians the opportunity to run the ball back down field. With the clock in the red, the ball simply needed to go dead, but an error of judgement with the clearance kick saw Old Rutlishians collect and cross the line to take a heartbreaking victory.

In the second Semi-Final, Thamesians' early dynamism looked to have waned, as they struggled to repeat the kind of performance that had seen them comfortably top their group. Chipstead looked to have found a second wind, and broke the deadlock towards the end of the first half. The game was put to bed at the start of the second, as Chipstead doubled their advantage, and despite a late fightback, a late score from Thamesians proved only to be conciliatory.

So the final saw two of the teams from Group B meet again, with Chipstead looking to avenge their defeat from the opening round of matches. They started the brighter of the two sides, and at the break had established a 14-0 lead. Both sets of players looked to be fading, and unfortunately for Old Rutlishians, the lead proved to big to overcome. An early try in the second gave them hope, but Chipstead put the game to bed in the final few minutes, and thus picked up the overall winners' trophy.

A big thank you goes to all the teams who participated, and a special thanks goes to Molinaro's Catering for running the BBQ, Dave Pearce for running the Bar, and Matthew Griffin for looking after all the match administration.

Group Stage Results

Group A

Group B

Knockout Stage Results

5th / 6th Place Play-Off

Semi Finals

Final