U7's Brighton 'Blues' team win Worthing Mini Festival 19/03/2006

Both Brighton Under 7's teams were in action on Sunday 19th March. Whilst the 'Greens' continued their winning streak at the Sussex Festival in East Grinstead, the 'Blues,' travelled to Worthing for the Mini 'B' Festival.

The first match in the pool stages was against Worthing 'B,' and the Blues got off to a keen start thanks to fantastic early runs from Andrew Read and Tim Jones, combined with very quick and efficient tackling by Ellis Burr and indeed the team as a whole. A further long run by Tim Jones saw the first half end at 3-0 to Brighton. The second half, saw a couple of substitutions for Brighton but Worthing never really threatened and further tries by Tom Heath and Andrew Read brought the final score to 6-0. Our man of the match was Andrew Read

The second match was scheduled to be against Sevenoaks, but they withdrew from the festival at the last minute leaving a long pause in proceedings as the organisers tried to keep the schedule on track. After a very long wait Brighton then came up against Crowborough who put up a lot stronger resistance than had been encountered in the first match. Determined efforts from both Jack Baker (2 tries) and Thomas Stevenson (1) brought the scores back to 3-3 at half time and whilst Crowborough managed to take one further try in the second half, superb runs from Tom Holly Jenkins and Anthony Smith sealed the match for Brighton at 5-4. Man of the Match going to Tom Holly Jenkins.

The withdrawal of a team in another pool had further upset the schedule bringing a lengthy delay in between matches, but the Blues were through to the semi-final where they faced the winners of pool A, - Upminster. This match proved to be one of our strongest performances, with a stunning early run by Tom Heath, followed by tries by Tim Jones, Anthony Smith and a second by Tom Heath. The Blues went into the second half leading 4-0. Upminster fought back in the second half taking 3 tries but were constantly denied possession by a strong defensive line and some fine tackles. Two tries from, a very much on form, Tom Heath (our man of the match), and one from Tom Holly Jenkins saw us take the match 7 - 3.

So to the final where the boys, under the captaincy of Harvey Roose, faced Haywards Heath, and by far the Blues' most challenging match of the festival. With both teams managing to break through and score the match was very tight from start to finish. A very fine effort from Anthony Smith, running from within five metres of our own try line to score was one of the highlights of the first half, but Haywards Heath kept up the pressure and the Blues went into the second half 6-4 down. The second half continued much the same but dogged determination on the part of Brighton saw them edge back to level pegging and with the clock ticking down manage to steal a turnover deep in the opposition half. With no idea of the score and the referee's words "this is the last play of the match" the boys had to dig really deep and make one last determined effort to push forward. A quick tackle from Haywards Heath resulted in a timely pass to Tom Heath who ran hell for leather for the corner flag to score the vital try and see the Blues finish off winners at 8 - 7. Our man of the match was Anthony Smith.

The Blues team for this tournament were; Jack Baker, Ellis Burr, Tom Heath, Tom Holly Jenkins, Tim Jones, Andrew Read, Harvey Roose, Anthony Smith and Thomas Stevenson. (plus a new recruit - Harry Freestone - joined us for the first match).