U10 ISA Rugby

On Wednesday1^st November the Under 10 Rugby squad m ade the long journey to Littlegarth School near Colchester in Essex for ISA festival of rugby. Accompanied by Mr Thomas and Mrs Alcoran the ten strong squad, currently undefeated this season, felt they should perform well at the tournament, despite there being some strong opposition.

It was a beautiful day with a bright sun in the sky as four pitches lay before the stunning  School bulding. Teams from across the country had also travelled far to join us including Rushmoor, Quinton House, Sancton Wood and Gateway. Local rivals Ayscoughfee were also present, but they had elected to play in the touch tournament, so we setup camp alongside them and began warming up for the six games we faced.

The games were short and sharp and from kick off Copthill made the most of the ten minute games and played an offensive running style of game and scored almost straight away, thanks to Marcus Oliver’s quick thinking and quicker feet. Tries came in thick and fast by Sam Chesworth and Copthill won their first game with ease.

Back to back they played games and next onto Pitch Two were Rushmoor who had looked strong in warm up. It was a tough match but at the final whistle it was a draw. Both teams fighting to get over the line but an excellent defence from both sides meant no team could gain momentum. Huge tackles from Logan Todd and Oliver Tooze kept the Rushmoor army at bay.

Following a quick gathering of the troops and a team talk from Mr Thomas it was Copthill’s turn to face the hosts, Littlegarth. This was never going to be an easy match; with the home advantage and referee in Littlegarth colours the Copthill crew knew this was going to be tough. Copthill took the early lead because of the smooth handling of Eshan Shah and quick thinking of Austin Waller but unfortunately the result did not go our way. Littlegarth narrowly won, Copthill just managing to run out of pitch on the flanks every time they were close to scoring. Thankfully, it was time for a break and a regrouping.

After sandwiches and drinks the squad were quick to start training for the second half of the tournament. Particular emphasis was on the breakdown and securing their own ball in the ruck and also counter-rucking in order to win possession back more quickly. It worked, and in the fourth game Copthill stormed to nearly double figures. Either the sandwiches or training had made a difference! They won with ease and were raring towards clean sheets in the second phase, with no sign of an afternoon break. In quick succession they played and destroyed their opposition. Rory Driver smashed every ruck and Stan Halden managed to stay just out of touch. Copthill were looking like the team to beat and with Littlegarth now waning, thoughts turned to silverware.

It was a long day though and with the early start all of the boys were getting tired. Luckily, Copthill had strength in depth and because we had been rolling subs all day we still had pace and the ability to play a wide game when the overlap was made. Elliott Britton and Owen Nazaruk-Wheeler were still on form and cutting through the weakened defences and the team were starting to rack up a lot of trys in the final stages of the competition. Game after game, we were complemented on our playing style and how strong the whole squad were. Near impossible to break through and lethal when on the run it was a delight to watch the hard work and even training on the day pay off.

Copthill were the last team to get a rest and their matches were over. They hadn’t finished training though as it was their turn to train with the professionals in a masterclass organised by the hosts. Despite their weary legs and bruised bodies all ten boys enjoyed the coaching session which was led by a former Australian Women’s International. Again, the squad were complemented on their cohesion as a team but also their tough mentality and physicality on the ball. We decided to focus on low tackling during and working from the ground as the boys had shown all day how good they were on the run and ripping the ball from a maul.

The day was a success and player of the tournament was Logan Todd and top try scorer was Marcus Oliver. Although captaincy was rotated, the leader of the day was Sam Chesworth but as a team they demonstrated all five of the RFU core values. During the awards ceremony in particular, they demonstrated true Sportsmanship and behaved, all day, impeccably.