Streatham-Croydon juniors help Harlequins to finish 3rd in the Premiership Urban Rugby Squad Competition

Over the summer holidays between 25th July and 22nd August, Harlequins School Community Coach, Dominic Palacio aided by our very own Trevor Young ran free rugby coaching sessions at our ground for boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 16.
As well as introducing rugby to young people who have not played the game before, it gave some of our junior players the opportunity to keep their fitness levels up during the off season.
Dominic ran these sessions at 4 other venues with a view to eventually selecting a squad of players to represent the Harlequins during the October half term holidays in the Premiership Urban Rugby Squad competition. This year the competition would take place at Worcester Warriors Ground, Sixways Stadium – 150 miles away.
Beaten host finalists last year at the Stoop, the hope was for the Harlequins Squad to go one better. However the other premiership sides had the same objective and with the tournament taking place in the Midlands, it would be a big ask to bring the trophy home.
In a squad of 12, six players (4 boys, 2 girls) were selected from our club to make the journey up to Worcester Warriors ground Sixways at the crack of dawn - Kishan Anrude, Charlie Baldwin, Sylvia Masters, Conor Oresanya, Urishita Ramlall and Dominique Seraphin.
Their morning started at 5am as they were picked up from their homes to arrive at the Stoop for a 7am departure. Arriving 5 mins before their first game, they went on to win their pool (2 wins and 1 draw) which set up a semi-final against Wasps. A try was controversially disallowed at the death and Wasps scored a breakaway try to win.
Despite the defeat, they insisted on playing (an optional) 3rd vs 4th game against London Irish, which they won. Northampton went on to beat Wasps in the final.
Dominic said, “What also struck me was the manner in which the Squad came together as a team cheering each other on, no moaning with mistakes in the games & consoling each other in defeat. They behaved impeccably in true testament to our sports core values; Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship! They did their clubs & schools proud!”