We boarded the coach on Saturday afternoon to head up to Manchester – a bunch of very excited boys and few hardy family members. We stopped just outside Birmingham, where a friendly rugby club (Stafford RFC) very kindly let us use their pitches for a training session. Fair to say that the quality of rugby on display for that hour was pretty dire - if Durham City had been able to watch that session, they would not have been shaking in their boots!

We put that behind us and headed up north to our hotel in the industrial heartland of Warrington. If the boys had any ideas about sneaking out for a night out, it wasn’t going to happen – we were in the middle of nowhere! However, hats off to the boys – they were focused on the game. They got a good meal down them and took themselves off to bed at a perfectly sensible time. (Unfortunately, the non-playing contingent didn’t follow that lead, but I think we all wished we had when we woke up….).

We were greeted by dark clouds, bitter cold, wind and rain the next morning (was it really May??). Our best rugby is fast and open, so this was far from ideal for us.

A calm, quiet journey to the AJ Bell Stadium (home of the Sale Sharks), followed by the most determined, focused warm-up we’ve ever had. As they were standing in the tunnel waiting to run out onto the pitch, I can honestly say that I’ve never seen them more ready for a game of rugby. There’s absolutely no question that the boys were up for it.

It was a big stage and a big occasion and so, combined with the weather, mistakes from both sides were inevitable in the opening period. Durham dealt with it a little better, and definitely had the upper hand in the first quarter. They had more possession and really tested our defence, which was excellent all game. We struggled to build any sort of platform, with unforced errors being a real problem. However, as the half went on, we settled down and got ourselves into the game. After a series of phases in their 22, Mo forced himself over for the opening score, well converted by Jake. That relaxed the nerves, and brought back the confidence. Durham were a strong, well organised side, but our forwards were starting to dominate, particularly the set piece. A few minutes later, we won a line out on Durham’s 22. The driving maul has been a real strength for this team this season, so what happened next was no surprise. The ball was taken cleanly, they set themselves, and then drove the whole 22 for Callum to score. A fantastic piece of technical play, and a real psychological blow for Durham’s forwards.

We went into half time 12 – 0 up and full of confidence.

We were back in the Durham 22 shortly afterwards, and put together some great phases, which created space out on the left. We spotted it, moved the ball from right to left really nicely, and put Logan over for a great team score (particularly as we had a man in the sin bin at the time, and so were playing with one short). 19-0 up, and we could now start to relax. Or so we thought….a few mins later, the Durham fly half spotted space at the back and put in a long kick, and their winger won the chase. Even though he did actually score, the ref decided that he had been impeded and awarded a penalty try, so it was an easy conversion to take the score to 19-7. This game was definitely not over.

There was quite a long break mid way through the second half, in order to treat what looked like a pretty nasty broken leg for one of the Durham players. It was so cold that the boys all went back into the changing rooms! It’s never easy to get going again after a break like that, but we dealt with it better than Durham, and we were completely in control for the last quarter of the game. The pressure eventually told, when an error by the Durham fly half in his dead ball area allowed Ollie Lim to pounce for a trademark opportunistic try. Jake added the conversion to make it 24-7, and that’s how it stayed.

Cue lengthy celebrations and a very happy coach ride home!

Huge congratulations to all the boys involved, and a massive thank you from me personally – this is certainly a weekend that I’ll never forget! You all did us and yourselves proud. Thank you also to the travelling support – you definitely made yourselves heard, and I know that the boys really appreciated having you there.

For those who weren’t able to make it, and didn’t watch us live, the game is on the RFU website, so you can watch it anytime. (There are 1 or 2 occasions when the commentator actually gets a name right…..):

http://www.englandrugby.com/news/watch-live-national-u17-competition/

http://www.englandrugby.com/news/rosslyn-park-hold-off-durham-city-secure-bowl/

(Sorry, Callum, they seem very keen to give your try to Logan for some reason…).

Squad: Josh Ballard, Jacques Blagburn, Matt Buxton-Smith, Tommaso Castaldi, Adam Causer, Nick Davies, Josh Dhillon, Logan Didier, Mo Dougramaji, Felix Griffin, Jake Hennessey, Benoit Israel, Ollie Lim, Ollie Little, Hugh Lupson, James O’Sullivan, Kamal Oke, Fraser Price, Andrew Skow, Callum Torpey, Dom Tyson.

Man Of The Match: Dom Tyson