After only two weeks of training, this was the first time that Henley U11s were able to test the new rules and the newly acquired ability to kick out of hand. Taking their lead from the senior club, the U11's adopted a 'kicking as a last resort' attitude and looked to run the ball from anywhere on the park. This tactic worked well in the pool games with some superb handling leading to tries from the likes of Monty Heath, Matt Crook, Alex Flann and Joel Trinder. Wins against Witney II, Chinnor and Towcester resulted in Henley emerging unbeaten as the winners of their pool and the opportunity for run in the Cup competition.

A Cup semi final against a well drilled Chipping Norton team was well contested but Henley struggled to advance from their own half. Trying to run out of defence proved difficult against a Chippy side with a blitz defence that continually put Henley under pressure. Mistakes were made and some ill-discipline resulted Henley ball being turned over. Some clever kicking over the top of a flat Henley defensive line resulted in a well taken try from the Chippy fly-half. Robust tackling from Ryan Porter and Max James and effective counter-rucking from Johnny Miller and Cosmo Rompani ensured that Henley started to win more ball. Unfortunately, this possession could not be capiltalised upon and Chippy scored two further tries without reply.

Henley were left to contest the Cup play-off against Oxford Harlequins. Having learnt the lessons from their early defeat, Henley attacked with all guns blazing. Some great handling through the middle of the park resulted in Alex Benjes barging over for their first try. Quins replied by trying to kick tactically into the corners but some great defence from Alfie Wylie (returning to Henley after a couple of years in the footballing wilderness) denied Quins a try. Henley managed to score another try through the ever-competitive Alex Benjes and were denied a few more after committed runs from Josh Kahn, Ollie Doyle and Oscar Bunting were stiffled by strong Quins scramble defence. The final 2-0 score line resulted in Henley coming 3rd overall in the competition.

The Henley squad should be proud of their performance. The decision to give players the opportunity to play at a higher level provided valuable experience and a taste of the pace and physicality of these highly contested games. This composite squad showed that they were a match for a number of full A teams and to come third overall, only losing to the eventual winners, was a great achievement.

Players need to work on looking up, and using the ball to put the man in to space. We will work on this at the next training session whilst the other half of the U11s squad take their opportunity to compete at the Wasps’ LandRover Cup competition - good luck to them.

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