Chester Under 7's report from the Lexus Rugby Tournament

The Under 7's had their first taste of tournament rugby at the North and Mid-West England Regional event of the prestigious Lexus Tournament at Sandbach Rugby Club. Chester were drawn in Pool B along with Sedgley, Shrewsbury and Waterloo. Lexus generously provided the shirts and Chester were in an unfamiliar black and white stripe shirt rather than the Chester Red, this however added to the sense of the occasion of playing away from Hare Lane.

Sedgley v Chester

First to take the field for Chester were Owen Currie, Owen Fidling,Charlie Cook and Joshua Miles. From Chester's point of view this was a perfect start, good individual skills when attacking and good support up from players not in possession of the ball making themselves available for the pass. The defensive performance was also good tagging opposition players and also picking up the loose ball to turn over possession. Running out 9-1 victors, this was the highest score in the Under 7's competition.

Chester v Shrewsbury

Chester had Daniel Redhead, Daniel Young, Ted Wilson and Max Mercer taking the field for this game. After a slow start Chester found themselves a few scores down however as the the game progressed Chester matched Shrewsbury score by score. Even though Chester lost this game by 6-9 they where certainly not overpowered by Shrewsbury, an eventual semi-finalist.

Chester v Waterloo

This was the last game of the group stage and Chester needed to win to progress to the semi-finals. The game started well for Chester and they were showing good running skills and excellent tagging, at half time Chester were one try in the lead. The second half started and Waterloo where allowed a try when the player was diving over the line. Waterloo were allowed two more tries of this nature until the referee said that he would not allow any more tries if the player was not on his feet. Unfortunately for Chester the next try was when Owen was barged over the line and his try was disallowed. Credit must go to the Chester players as they accepted the referees decision without any arguments. The score was an 8-8 draw and Waterloo progressed to the semi-finals.

After the group stage Chester were third in the table but could so easily have reached the semi-finals.

Chester v Stockport

Again Chester were slow to start, however they soon picked up their game with positive running, good passing and excellent tagging and pulled the game back to a two score margin in Stockport's favour. The game was played in good spirit by both sides.

Chester v Stockport

Chester played Stockport again as the two other teams had gone home. Chester started this game in a much more positive manner than the previous one. As this was the last game all of the players had playing time in this game. Good team work and excellent defence contributed to a well deserved 6-5 victory which was a good way to round off a good first tournament for Chester U/7's

. It was very pleasing to see the boys putting into practice the hard work that they had put in at training and giving some very encouraging performances, they are a credit to Chester Rugby Club. Whilst not singling out any of the players, special mention to Ted and Charlie for travelling that bit further to make the tournament.

Many thanks must go to the Parents for transporting the boys and also for their positive vocal support. Also thanks to Rob and James for making the tournament happen for the boys.