Rhinos U11s at Banbury Tournament March 2014

The U11s travelled to Banbury for a huge festival (140 teams were entered across the age groups!)
They faced a pool of teams we've never played before, but we had been led to believe this was going to be a very tough challenge and the boys would need to play their best to compete.

Facing off against many clubs' A teams, we were drawn in a pool against Chinnor, Buckingham, Gosford All Blacks and Oxford Quinns - all new opposition to us.

First up the boys faced Chinnor, a pack of large very determined lads who played hard right from the whistle.
Their ball handling and passing along the line was excellent and they broke through the Rhinos defence three times to score tries.
Toby Hill scored one for the Rhinos to make the final score 3-1 to Chinnor.
However the boys hadn't really woken up and weren't playing as a team, making some unforced and basic errors.

After over an hour's wait, they then faced the green and white stripes of Buckingham. This was a much closer fought match in which the balance could easily have shifted either way.
The tackles came thick and fast, thinking was more joined up and the defence was more robust.
The final score 0-0

Just a short wait later they were playing Gosford All Blacks.
By now the boys had found their stride and were playing with more confidence and flair - although still now showing the great play we had seen against Stratford and Worcester just a couple of weeks ago.
The final score was 4-0 to the Rhinos, with tries from Toby Hill, Matt Moseley and Toby Mansell and some great groundwork from Leo Heath.

The final match of their pool saw the boys face Oxford Quinns - a team we'd been told were the ones to beat.
We had watched them trample all over a couple of the other teams and knew it was going to be a tough draw.
Still the Rhinos hadn't found their previous form and here they faced a large, very well drilled opposition.
The final score was 3-0 to the Quinns, but the boys came off the pitch positive and with smiles on their faces.

A great day of rugby, despot the horrendous cold, wind and threatening black clouds!

Photos by Matt Hill and Tara Washington