An exciting day at Saracens - match report by Karl Brender

First of all, the organisation from the car park, along the walk & into the stadium was fantastic. After registration, we arrived at the stand to find everyone there early & ready to go. The kids and coaches - Fred and myself - got straight out on the pitch for a warm up, whilst the parents felt the cold snap in the shade of the stand.You could tell the guys were really up for the tournament, and we had some great team huddles to bring the team together.

The first game was against the OA sharks. Our guys played fast direct rugby, some great passing & support play, with each player involved throughout. This was the way our guys played all day, as a team. We were two tries up at half time & looked comfortable for the win, but then OA's had some great play & pulled it back. In the end it was 7-7, a fair result overall & an enjoyable game.
Spirits were high, with the feeling from the guys that we should have won the game, then we played Hertford.

Our guys again played really well as a team. We had some brilliant individual runs & tries, but mostly we were scoring after 4 & 5 tags, through support and some great straight runs. Final score was a win to Hertford 7-6. But we were really happy with our guys attitude & team play. They were loving it & up for the next challenge.

Sevenoaks were fantastic unfortunately for us! Our teamwork and support for each other still scored us 3 tries, with a final score of 8-3.

Our last game of the day was against Royston. This was a frustrating game for us. Although we were tagging, they still gained yards until they made the pass, and used this strategy to cross our line. I believe the final score was around 8-5? Unfortunately I was so into the game I forgot to note it down.

All in all everyone enjoyed the rugby.

As a competitive coach I found it frustrating at times, as I truly believe that our guys were performing out of their skins, and deserved more. It was quite apparent that some teams came with a game plan, and more than a few 'advanced' players. In a 'true' development tournament, it would have been a different story for our boys.

Saracens then treated us to a firework display, which we watched from the new pitch, with the Saracens players! I won't tell you my conversation with Matt Stevens, that's for another time!