HARLEQUINS GRAND FINALISTS!

On Saturday 1st of March, our Under 8 team were up against some of the very best teams in the South of England in the Semi Finals of the prestigious EITHAD AIRWAYS Curtain Raiser Cup on the home pitch of Harlequins RFC.

Things started very well for our boys as they despatched a competent Bromley side with ease in their first pool game. 2 early tries from Cameron were quickly followed up by Jack, Kier, Kyle and Isaac to help us run out 6 – 1 winners. The pitch was set up much smaller than normal and this meant that the boys were often caught in traffic and an expansive game would not be possible. Instead they would need to rely on their support play and defensive line. They did this well in game one but the test had only just got under way!

In game two they met a confident Horsham side from Sussex who were runners up in their own County Festival at the end of last season. This unfortunately was a scrappy encounter and we made more handling errors than we had done in the previous 4 weeks in total! We also ran into touch and missed Tags. Thankfully pressured by the good defensive work of Joey, Louis and Kier, Horsham did the same! The score line reflected this and we ended up drawing 1-1 with Alfie getting the all important equalising try.

The performance knocked our confidence a bit but we had little time to reflect as we were soon up against the Sussex County and last year's Curtain Raiser Cup champions, Brighton.

The game was played at a frantic pace and despite the small size of pitch the attacking play of both sides was winning the day. Brighton proved to be an excellent side and their support play was absolutely first class. This led to us finding them difficult to contain. However, having said that, we managed to keep in touch with some individual brilliance from Alfie, Nathan G and Kier. We trailed 4-3 at the break but soon responded with another Alfie try to level. Brighton struck back again and put us under intense pressure. This finally paid dividends for them as they broke away for what turned out to be the winning try (albeit there was a blatant forward pass in the move!). Guy raced away to score a late consolation but as the final whistle went we had lost 6 – 5. Our first defeat in a year!

So we went into game 3 knowing that a loss would mean we were out but a win or possibly even a draw would send us through. No pressure then!

As they always seem to, the boys bounced back magnificently to beat a very well drilled Effingham & Leatherhead (It's easy for you to say!) side by playing their best rugby of the day. An early try from Saul gave us the lead and we held onto this until the half time break. Mind you it could have been a little more comfortable as in the last few seconds of the half; Alfie brilliantly beat 3 defenders to race clear and seemed certain to score before he uncharacteristically dropped the ball near the try line. He was soon to make amends however as we struck again just after the break. Effingham bounced back to score their first try but this time we were a little more composed and Kyle sealed the win with a good piece of finishing. In the last play we conceded again but with victory already secured (3-2), no one seemed that bothered.

So we move onto the Grand Finals (29th March) were we will meet the other 5 finalists in what is sure to be another memorable day. We will need to step up our game mind if we really want to come home with the trophy

Under 8's at Harlequins