County Champions!

For the first time, Hampshire RFU held all youth cup finals at one venue on the same day. Gosport & Fareham under 15s had earned their place at the top table of youth rugby in the county for the 2nd consecutive year & hoped to better their runner up position of last season.

Playing against New Milton who've won the county tournament every year until last season when Gosport & Fareham knocked them out at the quarter final stage was always going to be a tough occasion. New Milton have deservedly always been the team to aspire to & they were sure to be up for the occasion to put history right after Gosport & Fareham became the only team ever to have beaten them in the county tournaments.

With an unusual kick off time of 1500 at a neutral venue with a very large, noisy crowd gathering for what was billed as the match of the season, the Gosport lads looked relaxed as they arrived in their new sponsored training kit from Copyright Ltd.

Preparation had been good & the lads were looking forward to a very tough match, but New Milton went ahead before getting out onto the pitch by winning the 'loudest music in the dressing room' competition, but the music was as good as the banter - thanks lads!

The game opened with hooters, rattles & all sorts of other noises from both sets of supporters who good naturedly tried to outdo each other with tooting,cheering & chanting throughout the match. That one we'll award as an honourable draw.

The rugby itself didn't disappoint & was worthy of a final for sure. Both teams are high quality outfits with a great reputation so everyone got what they thought they'd get from the rugby - a good, strong, competitive match offering a shining example of what youth rugby should be all about.

Gosport opened with early pressure but New Milton matched every piece of skill with one of their own to keep everyone's hearts beating at double rate.

Gosport went ahead & remained so till the final whistle, but being unable to open up a large enough gap between the scores meant there was simply no room for any let up on either side. The whole match was played at a great pace & with great determination. The final score was Gosport & Fareham 19 - New Milton 12, giving Gosport their first county championship title.

Our thanks go to Copyrite for sponsoring the team & of course to all of the lads in the whole squad who make the rugby so enjoyable!