On the 22nd of February, the Hampton U15’s went to compete in the Ibstock School’s 7’s Tournament and, after some well-fought battles, walked away as the winners of the plate final.
The 9 players seemed to have quite a difficult task ahead of them as they have been severely disadvantaged by several events. To begin with, the tournament was for A squads, however this team comprised of completely B team players, with even a couple of subs. This was due to the fact many key players were on a field trip and star players were being rested, as the National Cup semi-finals were getting quite near. As well as that, the majority of these players have never played a game of 7’s before. To make things even worse, the players had to play 5 minutes after they got off the minibus, giving them an extremely short warmup and they only had two subs, yet every other team had 5.
This series of affairs evidently led to the squad’s first and only loss of the tournament in the first game, against Isleworth and Syon. Fortunately, the team then had a lot of time to rest up and learn how to play 7’s. Then the team played against Ibstock and managed to walk out of the game with an easy win. It was clear that the team has massively improved over that short period of coaching by their dominance, reflecting the coaches’ ability and importance to their success. The Hampton side then had to immediately play after against St. Celia’s, who are a very physical side. However, they still emerged triumphant using their skills they have just been taught not that long ago.
The Hampton side’s two wins and one loss meant that they ended up second in their group and seeded into the plate final. The team were then scheduled to play against City of London School in the final. This game truly put on show how much the team had improved over the one or two hours they have spent at the tournament. Although they only won by one try, Hampton maintained roughly 80% of the possession and dominated the game.
Overall, the day was a fun and a useful experience to the 9 Hampton players in the squad. The two coaches were deeply surprised by the performances put on display and pleased that the B team walked away wining a trophy in an A team tournament. And as Mr. Kothakota said in a later email, ‘were it not for a late arrival the squad of 9 would have walked away with the overall title.’
Joe Watton
