ROMFORD FESTIVAL PLATE WINNERS

The Woodford under 10’s took a large squad of 18 to Romford on the brightest sunniest day to date this season, looking for success in the Romford & Gidea Park Festival 2013. And success is what we witnessed along the touchline, as well as some mega rugby, some stunning victories and some true grit, determination and heart from our 18 Warriors. To prove the point of how well our boys played, at the end of the day the coach of the all conquering Upminster team approached our coach Ed Tidmarsh to say how impressed he was with our team and he added “ I’m praying we don’t get drawn against you at the Essex Festival”, high praise indeed.
Our boys faced some stiff competition and some top sides along the journey to the plate final, and never once gave up, they fought hard and showed just how good they are to all those watching, friends and foes alike. It is very difficult to single out any one boy as all were totally awesome, but I feel a special mention should go out to two players, Declan Comas & Nathan McCutcheon, two very different styles of play & players, one who is super quick, has an eye for a gap and can break free into space in the blink of an eye, whilst still being strong in the tackle and one who has pure power, strength, a dogged spirit to never give up and who strikes fear into the opposition when they see him bearing down on them, but as I said it was the whole squad that take the plaudits as every lad gave it 110% and each played their part in this glory, tackling was strong and unrelenting, the ball was moved with great conviction through the centres by the fly halfs, the scrum halfs always harried and hassled their opposite numbers when contesting the scrum. Line outs were particularly successful and saw a lot of scores in our favour coming from them, and the wings constantly threatened the opposition try line whilst ensuring to cover any attacks on our own flanks.
Great, great job boys, it was a total privilege to watch you play today and I was a very proud dad as you walked up arm in arm together to get your well deserved medals as Declan held the trophy aloft, come on the WOODS!!!!! .

Woodford Squad:
Lennon Tidmarsh, Bryn Elliott, Finley Jacobs-Roth, Nathan McCutcheon, Matthew Unwin, George Taylor, Dan Simpson, Felix Banks, Owen Morris, Lucca Dahlen, Lewis Walcott, Declan Comas, Matthew Harding, Nathan Morris, Barney Hurd, James Coady, Guy Wales, Joe Shepperson.

GAME 1
WOODFORD - 3 (15) V BANCROFT- 0 (0)
A return fixture against a side we had played at Woodford earlier in the year and lost to. No repeat this time as Woodford showed them just how much we have moved on this season and to be honest the score line should have been much higher in favour of the Woods. First half ended scoreless despite Woods spending 90% of it in the opposition half but after a couple of tactical changes at half time we came out swinging in the second period and following a typical poachers score from the wing Nathan Morris opened the scoring. This was followed quickly with two scores coming from powerhouse Nathan McCutcheon, who stormed over the line on each occasion despite several Bancroft bodies trying to hold him back.

GAME 2
WOODFORD - 7 (35) V BILLERICAY 0 (0)
Again some mesmerising rugby from the Woodford boys as they once again dominated the play and this time crushed the opposition. An even spread of scorers in the first half with tries coming from Nathan McCutcheon, Declan Comas, Matthew Unwin & Barney Hurd. Again there were a raft of changes at half time, but this did not prevent the scoring from climbing further still, Nathan McCutcheon & Barney Hurd both added to their first half scores to make it a double to each, whilst Lewis Walcott added his first of the day to round off a superlative team display as the referee ended the game early as the maximum score had been reached, two games played, two wins, 10 trys for and zero trys against, awesome.

GAME 3
WOODFORD- 1 (5) V UPMINSTER 1- 4 (20)
Both teams came into this fixture unbeaten, neither side having conceded a try and both having scored lots of trys themselves, Upminster having slightly the higher total, whoever won this game went into the cup final whilst the loser would contest the plate final. Woodford came out with the bit firmly between their teeth and went into a 1-0 lead after Nathan McCutcheon took the ball at the line out 5 metres from the Upminster try line and powered over with help from the pack, could it be that victory was in our sights against a very strong and former Essex champions Upminster team, we sure were riding on the crest of a wave of belief and were playing awesomely.As half time approached a rare Upminster break down the line caught us off guard and the ensuing score wrapped up the first period of play at 1-1. Unfortunately the second half started as the first finished with Upminster scoring, which was immediately followed by another for them as they fortunately picked up a knocked forward ball and ran the ball in unchallenged almost the full length of the pitch!! A final score was added by Upminster after a mistake from the ref when he allowed advantage to be played after a penalty that should have been given to us saw our lads caught unawares across the other side of the pitch. In all fairness Upminster deserved their victory but the score line does flatter them somewhat, 2-1 would certainly have been more like it. As I said prior though the Upminster coaches were very aware of how well our lads played and were very complimentary of their ability as they shook hands with Ed, Dan & Ashley as they left the field

GAME 4 PLATE FINAL
WOODFORD- 2 (10) V UPMINSTER 2- 2 (10)
We took the field against the Upminster 2’s in the plate final, and our first chance of silverware of the season, and once again we showed some awesome play as we took an early lead after Lewis Walcott made one of his typical mazy runs through the oppositions defensive line to take the score. Upminster equalised against the run of the play to bring the first half to an end at 1-1. A few changes at half time saw some fresh legs come on to the pitch for the final push for the trophy and the reward was almost instant as Declan Comas wrestled the ball free from a set of Upminster arms and after deflecting two or three hefty challenges he finally placed the ball down to take us once again into the lead. That is how it stayed right up until two minutes before time when, following a rare period of possession by the Upminster team they powered the ball over to bring it back all even. The last minutes of the game saw some frantic forays into the opposition half by our boys as they pushed for the win, alas time was our enemy and the sound of relief that could be heard from the Upminster parents on the touchline told the story of this final, honours even and the plate shared. All that was left now was to clap the boys as they went up to receive their silverware, each lad taking a medal, and after his heroic performance, Declan Comas, to rise the trophy aloft!!!!