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Dursley Under 9's just lose out at Cheltenham Rugby Festival
12th November 2006
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Match Date:
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Sunday 12th November
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Venue:
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Cheltenham RFC
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County Champions Dursley RFC under 9's were invited to Cheltenham RFC's rugby festival this weekend. Dursley, the only team in the tournament to field 2 sides, continued their tremendous run by reaching yet another final against Stroud.
Kicking off the tournament against Minchinhampton, Dursley 2 were immediately in control with two tries from Christopher Colston. Solid defence and great teamwork led to a third try scored by James Taplin, to secure a comfortable win. Meanwhile, Dursley 1 had a tight battle with a combative Hucclecote side, with a try by Dominic Webb giving Dursley their victory.
The second round of matches saw a draw between Dursley 2 and Cirencester and a narrow defeat for Dursley 1 by a single try to Chosen Hill. Both sides battled hard and fairly and Dursley 1 were particularly unlucky to have two tries disallowed.
Round 3 saw Dursley 2 come up against home side Cheltenham. A brilliantly worked handling move saw Colston released for his third try of the competition and the 2's looked like they would dominate the game. However, Cheltenham were made of sterner stuff and came back at Dursley with strength and determination to score in the corner just before half time. The second half was punctuated by the referees whistle but Chris Colston's pace and balance outstripped the home defence to score a great winning try. Dursley 1 had a difficult game against a full strength Stroud side. A loss by 5 tries meant that they had to win their 4th game to have a chance of progressing to the final.
The final round of matches saw the 2's up against Stow, with the winner going forward to the final. In a first half in which Dursley dominated, Taplin scored his second try of the tournament and Finlay McCubbin used his strength and pace to score a great individual try. This effectively sealed the win as Dursley played almost the entire second half in Stow's half, and progressed to the final. Dursley 1 played Painswick in a tight match that was won by an Edward Paddock try. Unfortunately other results meant that they missed out on a final place.
The final was played against Stroud. Dursley coaches decided to give all players a chance to take part in the final which lead to a rather disjointed affair. Despite tremendous defence, the constant changes in personnel meant that Dursley never really got going and Stroud were able to put together 2 tries to win the game and the tournament. Dursley fought hard and played their rugby with a smile - their men of the tournament were Silas Winterbottom and Edward Paddock with honourable mentions for Marcus White, Richie Matthews, Cameron Caddick and Joel Sherratt.
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