Surrey As Report

Well, what a day yesterday was.

Since we started in the minis all those years ago, we have had a one aim in mind which was to make sure that when it came to starting our junior rugby experience we would be playing against the very best teams in Surrey. And guess what, we've achieved it and will be playing league 1 next year.

Our great squad of players won our pool defeating Wimbledon and Weybridge Vandals on the way. Both games provided us with an opportunity to showcase the Chipstead style of rugby that we have worked SO hard to develop. We overcame our perennial problem of starting slowly in festivals and came out of the blocks with a 2-0 win against Wimbledon. Suanu danced through opposition leaving them trailing in his wake to score the first try and Charlie Edwards chased up and collected a great kick and ran half the pitch to secure a great victory to start the festival.

In the second game we came up against the gigantic team that is Weybridge Vandals. We knew the game plan- keep the ball moving and move their pack about the pitch. Now only did we do this but we also took them on up front and beat them at their own game. After a great couple of phases of play with almost every memebr of the team involved Charlie Ridge scooted over the line to score the only try of the game. A great defence for the remainder of the match ensured that we won our group and proceeded into the cup draw.

This in itself is a huge feat and the first time we have acheived it in the Surrey As. Other "big teams" weren't so lucky- London Irish, Cobham, Chobham and Sutton and Epsom, to name a few, failed to do the same.

The next round offered us the opportunity to progress even further if we could beat Effingham and Leatherhead who had defeated Irish in their group. Effingham were the form team in the group stage being the only Surrey team to have beaten Irish this year. However, myself and the other coaches felt we had the game strategy and the players to be able to pull off a momentous victory. Sadly this wasn't to be- Effingham scored the one and only try of the match and despite our best efforts we were unable to capitalise on our hard work.

So, we were out of the festival with an overriding sense that we had missed an opportunity to really do ourselves justice. But, on reflection, we must take great pride in the fact that our mission was accomplished and that we will be taking our place alongside the top 8 teams in Surrey next year.