Sunday morning. Rain. Kent.
Chipstead Tigers turned up amidst the mud to play in the first festival
of 2012, and we had a great - a really great - day.
We played 4 games between 10am and 2pm. The rain didn't stop, and
neither did we; we won 3 and drew 1. We conceded only 1 try, and we
scored 7. We played proper Chipstead rugby: we rucked well; we used our
hands to get the ball out wide despite narrow pitches; we scrummaged
strongly; we tackled hard; and whether it was ball, territory or the
match itself, we gave nothing up. Even in the face of some fairly robust
on- and off-the-ball GBH opposition play, the boys stood firm.
At the end of the pool stages, the organisers decided to cut the
tournament short. We were calculated to have been the second best team
of the day across all 10 teams, and so we take The Plate - our first
trophy of the year!!
And it was so thoroughly deserved too. Huge thanks to the parents for
shuttling hot chocolate down to the tent (thank you Hywel!) to warm the
boys up, to the squad who came on and off and played all positions with
no grumbling or questioning, to the coaches and parents who kept the
boys interested when eskimoes would have given up, and most of all, to
the rugby Gods who, for a brief moment on a sodden field, turned the
Tigers into proper rugby heroes.
Up The Chips.