After seven wins and one loss at the Surrey As at Dorking, Sutton and Epsom Rugby Club’s U9s went to the Worthing A festival on Sunday 24th April and won four out of four to lift the trophy.

Squad Players: Jack Tedore, Austen Barnhurst, Joseph Peacock, William Le Serve, Lewis Ashworth, Zac Allibone, Harry Ross, Nicholas Bosman, Louie Petrides, Solana Shaw.

Match 1 Report: S&E v Worthing 3-1 Win
The early morning rain soon moved on as we headed down to the coast to try and retain the title won by both A & B squads last year at the same venue. First up was the hosts Worthing and S&E were soon in their stride as a strong defensive display which never let up all day proved too much for the home team. William was controlling play at scrum, half hitting the big runners in Joseph and Zac, as dent after dent was made in the Worthing defensive line. Zac & Austen put S&E 2-0 up and although Worthing reduced the deficit, a second half try from Solana made sure of the Victory. There were plenty of strong tackles from Harry & Nicholas keeping the hosts score to just one

Match 2 Report: S&E v Bognor 5-0 Win
Game 2 against Bognor proved much of the same with tackle after tackle being made by Louie and Zac in the midfield this time Nicholas was in at scrum half finding the big S&E ball carriers in Austen and Joseph. Tries from Zac, Lewis and Solana gave S&E a 3-0 half time lead. A second half comeback never looked on the cards as two tries from substitute Jack, one a lovely intercept and the other from a great pass from William ensured an easy 5-0 victory. The sniff of silverware started entering the coaches’ minds. A superb try saving tackle from Solana had a number of opposing parents in awe, complimentary comments were heard from the sidelines (it would appear Solana is becoming a celebrity in Sussex as well as Surrey now).

Match 3 Report: S&E v Chichester 4-1 Win

Up next was Chichester who in previous games against us had proved very strong opposition, but S&E were on a roll. The starting formation saw Harry playing in what would be the number 9 shirt intelligently putting players in to gaps. Nicholas and Harry need to be commended for their excellent support play which made sure S&E gained territory         and created tries from Zac and then two storming individual runs from Joseph and Louie took S&E out to a 3-1 lead at the break. A number of dodgy refereeing decisions denied further tries and threatened to let Chichester back in, however a second half try from Lewis put the game to bed as S&E ran out 4-1 winners.

Match 4 Report: S&E v Luton Won 5-0
What was looking like being the most difficult game of the day was against Luton who had a couple of what can only be described as big lumps on the pitch and for the first time S&E defence looked fragile, as we tackled to high failing to bring the opposition down and it took a few minutes until the first score arrived. Thankfully it came from Jack who put S&E in front and went on to get a hat-trick in the match. Luton who had looked tough soon let their heads drop as try after try went S&E’s way. Even the raucous parents from Luton couldn’t get there team back on track as again S&E’s defensive line was not breached. Austen seemed to be everywhere and some big hits from Louie and Joseph finally knocked the steam out of Luton with two late scores from Zac and then Lewis not to be outdone by Jack got his own intercept try. The game ended with another victory 5-0 and the A festival trophy was retained.

An outstanding defensive effort saw only two tries being conceded with every player putting in a shift in the defensive line. A great end to the season at our final U9 festival roll on U10’s
Highlights of the day – One of the two intercept tries from Lewis or Jack, Solana’s crunching try saving tackle on one of Bognor’s big runners, William Le Serve’s deft pass to set Jack free for a try but the winner was Solana’s try dotting the ball down in the corner with her whole body in the air most of it over the touchline an excellent finish that England winger Chris Ashton would be proud of.

For more details of all of the club’s activities go to RUGBY