Taggers Warm-Up at the Warlingham Festival

Match Report by Steve Gaukrodger and Nick Thorp

A fantastic day at Warlingham last Sunday 1st October for the Streatham-Croydon's taggers.

We entered two teams to take part in this annual rugby warm-up festival which is traditionally a perfect chance for new players to test their skills in a competition format.
Once again the Warlingham club were most welcoming and we owe them a huge thank you for organising another great early season festival.

After pitching up in the drizzle we were fortunate to stay fairly dry for the entire day which was unexpected given some of the nasty forecasts earlier in the week.

Team wrap ups:
U7 team report:
Team: Shamweel, Andre, Josh, Kayin, Samuel, Henry

Bearing in mind this was the first time that most of these kids had played in a competition, and in some cases, the 2nd or 3rd time actually playing tag rugby, the team did extremely well and proved themselves to be competitive against many of the larger clubs. A special thanks to Henry Thorp who at only just 5 yrs was called up to the U7 squad.

1st game v Olds Whits
Samuel and Andre combining well with some excellent breaks. Andre & Kayin both scoring an brilliant tries. Result - narrow loss

2nd game v Ironsides
The squad was strengthened with the arrival of Josh which meant we could make use of subs. Sharweel showed some speed down the wing and was very unlucky not to score. Josh was immediately into the action too with some good runs and tidy defensive work. Result - narrow loss

3rd game v Sevenoaks
Kayin once again proved to a lethal tagger and managed to stop a number of certain tries. Great running by Sharweel and Josh finished off by some good tries by Samuel. Henry also bagged his first tagger rugby try. Result - draw

4th game v Walingham Blue
With only 4 players remaining and no subs we had to push ourselves right to the end. There was still petrol in the tank with tries from most of the guys. Brilliant tagging too. Overall everyone played with great spirit. Medals were all well deserved.

U7 player of the day was Kayin. Enthusiastic tagging right through the day along with some fine tries.

U8 team report:
Team: Noah, Niamh,Scylla, George,Greta,

Game 1: Old Whitgiftians
Having peered through the morning drizzle and recounted the team seven or eight times, we were stuck on four players. They were four good players, but even the combined talents of the four under 8s who had turned up were probably not going to be enough to overcome the Old Whit’s who had a squad of 12.In the spirit of sportsmanship they lent us enough to make a full squad and the battle began. Some blazing runs from Noah, sleight of hand from Greta, Scylla’s swerve and George’s cross-field pace, along with contributions from our new subs, meant the first game was a try-fest. Final score undetermined, but the spectators were treated to 12 minutes of rugby with a try about every 30 seconds.

Game 2: Sevenoaks
The rain eased, and reinforcements arrived in the form of Niamh. Not sure her preparation of “I’ve just finished the biggest burger I’ve ever eaten”, was textbook, but her determined chasing game ran down a few of the opposition and slowed the try scoring. Greta bagged a couple of tries to help keep the scoreboard ticking over and the players were rewarded by a lot of applause from the sidelines.

Game 3: Reigate
We had no subs by this stage, and the players were starting to tire. Some determined defence from Scylla and Noah kept us in the game, but for the most part it was all about attack. The level of commitment was highlighted by the fact that the paint marking the lines had worn off in the drizzle, meaning tries were being scored 20 metres past the tryline; almost like watching mini Forest Gumps.

Game 4 Sutton & Epsom
The final game of the afternoon was a chance to run off any energy the players had left in them. Again it was all about attack, with George grabbing one try from the first possession and Scylla, Greta, Noah and Niamh tagging and running themselves to a standstill.
The final whistle went at last. Niamh took charge of the 3 cheers (and one for luck), then it was time to shake hands, dig around in the kit bags for any overlooked chocolate and reflect on a great first tournament of the year for the U8s.