Clapton's Under 14s took part in the Rye Festival held over the Bank Holiday weekend at Rye RFC. Not only did the lads play some fantastic rugby but they enjoyed a great tour which began on the Friday night and made the Club proud through their performances and behaviour.

The competition consisted of 14 clubs split into two groups with games played over two days. Clapton seemed to have drawn the short straw with 08.45 kick offs scheduled for both days - but none of the lads complained and all were ready, on time, to do battle.

Day 1 began with a close game against last year's winners - the Olney 'Pinks' - which had brought a huge squad for what seemed to be most families main holiday of the year. Olney recorded a 17-0 win in this game but the play was a lot closer than that and two of Olney's tries were dubious to say the least, but hey, the ref awarded them so the scores stand.

Second up were Maidenhead who succumbed to the Club by a score of 22-0 as the boys learned that the shorter playing time for the games meant that territory and possession must be converted into points. A further victory over Old Midwhitgiftians by 12-7 saw Clapton end the first day on a high.

Sunday saw three more group games. Selby were first up. Their First XV had won the National Senior Vase at Twickenham the day before so maybe now was a good time to play them. Clapton dominated this game and had a cooler head slowed things down when a series of penalties were awarded to the Club in front of the Selby posts, this could have been win number 3. As it was the final score was a frustrating 0-0.

Local rivals Westcliff were next and the boys dealt with their challenge with ease recording a 17-3 win. Finally Sittingbourne provided the opposition in the last group match and the boys played some superb tournament rugby to control the game in their opponent's half to win 22-3.

With the group stage complete Clapton had recorded 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat from their 6 games. That placed them second in the group and earned them right to play Old Dartfordians in the 3/4 place play off.

This game was a classic. Two very evenly matched sides battling it out with some ferocious tackling that made the supporting crowd wince in unison on several occasions. Despite best efforts, neither side could breach the defence of the other and the game ended scoreless - but what an entertaining 22 minutes! Also, it was great to see the teams and coaches from both Westcliff and Southend on the touch line to cheer our boys on and that typified the rugby spirit felt all weekend.

The U14s achieved a lot this weekend. One defeat in just 7 games against clubs we have not played before; conceding just 4 tries in those 7 games; achieving the highest finish of the four Essex clubs in attendance (Burnham were there too). I think we will pick up some new fixtures for next season which could take us south of the river, so how good it that?

Congratulations to Esher who won in the final against Olney. And just one 'what if' to consider - had we beaten Selby it would have been us in the final rather than Olney! Live and learn.....

Everything that went well was brilliantly arranged by Anita Cook and Diane Mitchell with huge help from Kathryn Tinney, Teresa Sayers and Marina Ericson. Thank you.

See you all at the Club on Sunday 19th for our lunch and presentation and a bit of music!