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Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th April 2008

Under 10’s Weston Super Mare Tour Report

Bridgnorth u-10’s reached the final of the West Coast Rugby Festival held at Weston Super Mare. Teams from all over England had travelled to Somerset for the weekend tournament and the squad of 16 players representing Bridgnorth performed superbly throughout.

The tournament opener pitted the All Blacks against the hosts who proved tricky opponents but Bridgnorth started strongly and never looked back. Following a powerful run Jack Sanders scored an early try which was soon followed by a second score when Aaran Darley beat the home defence to cross over. The forward power of Jaxon Davies, Ben Lawer and Giles Themans offered quality ball and this was exploited by scrum half Ollie Jones and fly-half James Hale who organised the backs well. Bridgnorth’s defence was solid throughout as the hosts, cheered on by lots of local support, tried to break them down. However the All Blacks withstood the pressure and in the second half Zach Xiourouppa set up a try for James Morgan, after some high quality flowing rugby, and then scored the fourth try himself. Bridgnorth didn’t concede in the match, an excellent performance, and remarkably all four try scorers were the members of the squad who had to turn down selection by Northgate Swimming Club in the first round of the Junior Swimming League, to be held that night, so they could be at the tournament.

The strength of Bridgnorth’s squad allowed the coaches to make changes in the second game and every player selected contributed to a memorable match against Luctonians. After conceding a try early on, Bridgnorth worked tirelessly to draw level. In an exciting finale they finally did this with the last play of the match when man of the match Zach Xiourouppa crossed over having run almost the entire length of the field. Scrum half Huw Headworth had used the ball intelligently throughout following the hard work of forwards Miles Gough and Fraser Whitehouse. This gave Finbarr Burbridge and Arron Turner space to attack the gaps and Will James showed excellent commitment in both defence and attack.

The third game of a grueling first day was against Ealing. The All Blacks had to be at their best to match these strong opponents and were thankful for the constant tenacity of Jack Hodgson up front to win the ball for the backs to use. Zach Xiourouppa scored Bridgnorth’s try and everyone was relieved at the final whistle with the whole squad having performed very well on day one.

In the first game of day two, the All Blacks were up against one of two Hove teams they played. Bridgnorth’s early try was scored by Jack Sanders who evaded the defence to power over and as their opponents piled on the pressure the All Blacks were thankful for the commitment and tackling of Finbarr Burbridge, Miles Gough and man of the match Fraser Whitehouse to stop them. Huw Headworth and Will James also worked tirelessly to keep out a determined Hove team.

Having made it through the group stages, Bridgnorth met the second Hove team in the semi-final and completely controlled the game, never allowing their opponents any space or time. The All Blacks dominated up front with Giles Themans’ perseverance rightly resulting in his memorable try. Man of the match Ben Lawer also continually made things difficult for Hove’s forwards. Match captain and Fly Half James Hale again bossed the backs and his darting runs were rewarded by his two tries. Again Bridgnorth had scored four tries in the match with Jack Sanders having got the first with a typically strong run after picking the ball up in the loose.

The final was against Luctonians, who the All Blacks had met the day before. The tackling of Jack Hodgson, Arron Turner and man of the match Jaxon Davies and the running of Aaran Darley, Ollie Jones and James Morgan typified the effort shown. The opposition were obviously aware of Bridgnorth’s strength and they put in a tremendous physical effort to win more of the ball and eventually the game. So after two days of glorious sunshine and hard rugby the All Blacks finished runners up and every squad member took home a medal as a fitting memento of their hard work and commitment.

© Bridgnorth Rugby Club