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Sun 08 May 2022
Hampshire RFU XRugby 7s Tournament
U15M - The Pirates
33
121
Tries: A Horsley-Menendez, O Smith (2), E Giles (2), J Hoare (5), S Starr, C Fisher (3), G Corbett (2), H Shaw (2), P Headley (2), J Harrison
Success for The Celts at the Hampshire XRugby 7s U15 Tournament 2022
Neil Fisher9 May 2022 - 11:19
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Another Champions trophy for the cabinet!
On a bright and sunny day at Havant RFC, The Celts yet again proved what a versatile squad they are. A squad of 12 Celts ventured into the unknown for their last fixture of what has been an incredible U15 season. Hampshire League Champions, Cup finalists as well as a number of schools tournament victories from across the squad. It has been emotional!
16 teams from across Hampshire and Dorset played a total of 58 matches throughout the day. The format of the tournament was simple, 4 match points for a win with a bonus point for scoring 4 tries or keeping within 7 of your opponent. Try scoring zones were 5 or 7 points and tries scored would come into play if there was a tie on match points at the end of the day.
The game is relatively unknown to The Celts but we'd had 3 training sessions to prepare.
The Celts were scheduled for the first game of the day against our friendly local rivals US Portsmouth who came out of the blocks firing and scored within the first minute against a lacklustre Celts team with a break away down the blindside from the first scrum. Not the first time this has happened this season...Celts like to do things the hard way! That try sparked the Celts into life and they didn't concede another try in the match. Some good defence was complimented by fast attacking play with some good offloads and use of the space. Tries from Alexander Horsley-Menendez, Oliver Smith (c), Elliott Giles and Jake Hoare ensured a bonus point victory 22-7. There were more tries out there but the Celts were trying too hard to secure the 7 pointers instead of taking the easy 5s. Something to discuss before the next game...
Next up were Andover, a side we've not played this season but we knew they had some talented players who like to run hard. Sam Starr got the Celts off to the perfect start with a powerful direct run through the centre. Great stuff from a player who is very new to rugby. Andover bounced straight back with a try from the restart to level things up. In the second half we witnessed one of the best tries of the season with powerful running by Elliott Giles who, when falling just short of the try line, managed to get a beautiful offload out the back to Charlie Fisher who had kept up in support. He collected well and dived over for a 7 pointer. Applause from all round and plenty of deserved pats on the back for Elliott for his skill. More tries from Charlie Fisher, Gus Corbett, Jake Hoare and Henry Shaw closed the game out 34-12 after Andover managed another breakaway in the second half. Second bonus point victory. Special mention to Jack Harrison for his poweful runs, allowing the Celts to build plenty of decents attacks.
Our third match was against another local rival Portsmouth Junior RFC and it turned out to be a fiesty affair. Elliott Giles got himself another try before Portsmouth levelled up with a fine try of their own. We then saw the first red card of the tournament after a Portsmouth player showed dissent to the referree. This made the task much harder for Portsmouth who were facing a confident Celts team and the floodgates opened. More tries from Jake Hoare (x2), Peter Headley, Oliver Smith, Jack Harrison and Gus Corbett completed the rout 41-7. Special mentions to Will May and Thomas Hutchinson who ran terrific lines and unselfishly set up most of the tries, playing to our strengths, well done! We also saw a brilliant team try where the ball was offloaded out of the tackle by Thomas Hutchinson, Will May, Jake Hoare and finally to Peter Headley who finished off the move, great support! Out third bonus point win.
Our last match was against Wimborne who we have never played before but we knew they were going to be a strong test after their unbeaten Division 2 success earlier this year which resulted in promotion to Division 1. They have some giant players and very quick feet - quick and coordinated defensive line speed was the order of the day. Will May set the tone with some very quick defence and excellent tackles which provided the opportunity to compete. The Celts love the opportunity to jackal and after some good competition, we soon saw Henry Shaw open the scoring in the first minute with his own blindside run from the scrum. Peter Headley got his second of the day before half time. Wimborne got one back in the second half with their rapid winger finding a gap in the tiring defence. Two more tries were needed to get the forth bonus point victory and our top try scorers of the day didn't disappoint. Charlie Fisher and Jake Hoare rounded off another great performance 24-7. Throughout the day, the Celts had scored a total of 121 points (21 tries!) and conceded 33 (5 tries).
With a few matches still to play, there were three teams in the running for the overall tournament win. Trojans had earlier drawn a match with Basingstoke and both were out of the running despite some great performances. It came down to Petersfield v Winchester in the final match of the day. The winner (if scoring 4 tries or more) would be drawn on match points with The Celts. Petersfield needed to win having scored 4 tries to win overall on tries scored, Winchester needed to win and score 8 to beat the Celts. What a finale! The game went to and fro with Petersfield leading 3 tries to 2 with a nervous final few minutes to go. Never have we enjoyed seeing as many reset scrums before!!
The Celts all watched on together from the sidelines knowing that if Winchester held out Petersfield, the Celts would be victorious. The final whistle was very welcome with all The Celts jumping for joy and celebrating together. The parents were all a bit more reserved until the confirmed scores were in and finally the boys were called up to receive their winners medals and trophy for the cabinet. Oliver Smith collected the trophy, a fitting end to a fantastic season as Celts captain, well done. A true ambassador of TREDS and leader on and off the pitch.
Well done to all The Celts, you all represented the club very well all season and this is another reward for all your hard work you have put in. A fantastic way to sign off the U15 season and we look forward to celebrating at our End of U15 Season Presentations in a couple of weeks.
Thanks once again for all the incredible support from the sidelines, as well as to our sponsors https://www.deepbluefinancial.com/ and https://sidigital.co/.
See you all at U16s!!
16 teams from across Hampshire and Dorset played a total of 58 matches throughout the day. The format of the tournament was simple, 4 match points for a win with a bonus point for scoring 4 tries or keeping within 7 of your opponent. Try scoring zones were 5 or 7 points and tries scored would come into play if there was a tie on match points at the end of the day.
The game is relatively unknown to The Celts but we'd had 3 training sessions to prepare.
The Celts were scheduled for the first game of the day against our friendly local rivals US Portsmouth who came out of the blocks firing and scored within the first minute against a lacklustre Celts team with a break away down the blindside from the first scrum. Not the first time this has happened this season...Celts like to do things the hard way! That try sparked the Celts into life and they didn't concede another try in the match. Some good defence was complimented by fast attacking play with some good offloads and use of the space. Tries from Alexander Horsley-Menendez, Oliver Smith (c), Elliott Giles and Jake Hoare ensured a bonus point victory 22-7. There were more tries out there but the Celts were trying too hard to secure the 7 pointers instead of taking the easy 5s. Something to discuss before the next game...
Next up were Andover, a side we've not played this season but we knew they had some talented players who like to run hard. Sam Starr got the Celts off to the perfect start with a powerful direct run through the centre. Great stuff from a player who is very new to rugby. Andover bounced straight back with a try from the restart to level things up. In the second half we witnessed one of the best tries of the season with powerful running by Elliott Giles who, when falling just short of the try line, managed to get a beautiful offload out the back to Charlie Fisher who had kept up in support. He collected well and dived over for a 7 pointer. Applause from all round and plenty of deserved pats on the back for Elliott for his skill. More tries from Charlie Fisher, Gus Corbett, Jake Hoare and Henry Shaw closed the game out 34-12 after Andover managed another breakaway in the second half. Second bonus point victory. Special mention to Jack Harrison for his poweful runs, allowing the Celts to build plenty of decents attacks.
Our third match was against another local rival Portsmouth Junior RFC and it turned out to be a fiesty affair. Elliott Giles got himself another try before Portsmouth levelled up with a fine try of their own. We then saw the first red card of the tournament after a Portsmouth player showed dissent to the referree. This made the task much harder for Portsmouth who were facing a confident Celts team and the floodgates opened. More tries from Jake Hoare (x2), Peter Headley, Oliver Smith, Jack Harrison and Gus Corbett completed the rout 41-7. Special mentions to Will May and Thomas Hutchinson who ran terrific lines and unselfishly set up most of the tries, playing to our strengths, well done! We also saw a brilliant team try where the ball was offloaded out of the tackle by Thomas Hutchinson, Will May, Jake Hoare and finally to Peter Headley who finished off the move, great support! Out third bonus point win.
Our last match was against Wimborne who we have never played before but we knew they were going to be a strong test after their unbeaten Division 2 success earlier this year which resulted in promotion to Division 1. They have some giant players and very quick feet - quick and coordinated defensive line speed was the order of the day. Will May set the tone with some very quick defence and excellent tackles which provided the opportunity to compete. The Celts love the opportunity to jackal and after some good competition, we soon saw Henry Shaw open the scoring in the first minute with his own blindside run from the scrum. Peter Headley got his second of the day before half time. Wimborne got one back in the second half with their rapid winger finding a gap in the tiring defence. Two more tries were needed to get the forth bonus point victory and our top try scorers of the day didn't disappoint. Charlie Fisher and Jake Hoare rounded off another great performance 24-7. Throughout the day, the Celts had scored a total of 121 points (21 tries!) and conceded 33 (5 tries).
With a few matches still to play, there were three teams in the running for the overall tournament win. Trojans had earlier drawn a match with Basingstoke and both were out of the running despite some great performances. It came down to Petersfield v Winchester in the final match of the day. The winner (if scoring 4 tries or more) would be drawn on match points with The Celts. Petersfield needed to win having scored 4 tries to win overall on tries scored, Winchester needed to win and score 8 to beat the Celts. What a finale! The game went to and fro with Petersfield leading 3 tries to 2 with a nervous final few minutes to go. Never have we enjoyed seeing as many reset scrums before!!
The Celts all watched on together from the sidelines knowing that if Winchester held out Petersfield, the Celts would be victorious. The final whistle was very welcome with all The Celts jumping for joy and celebrating together. The parents were all a bit more reserved until the confirmed scores were in and finally the boys were called up to receive their winners medals and trophy for the cabinet. Oliver Smith collected the trophy, a fitting end to a fantastic season as Celts captain, well done. A true ambassador of TREDS and leader on and off the pitch.
Well done to all The Celts, you all represented the club very well all season and this is another reward for all your hard work you have put in. A fantastic way to sign off the U15 season and we look forward to celebrating at our End of U15 Season Presentations in a couple of weeks.
Thanks once again for all the incredible support from the sidelines, as well as to our sponsors https://www.deepbluefinancial.com/ and https://sidigital.co/.
See you all at U16s!!
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