The RBSI Guernsey Rugby Academy under-10 squad who won the Cobham Festival: Back row: Jean-Luc de Garis, Tom Miselke-Evans, Toby Glass, George McLellan, John Le Noury and George Simmons. Front row: Oliver Stockwell, Rory Betley, Ben Holland (captain), Thomas Teasdale, Daniel Moore and Tom Rihoy. (0873984)
THE RBSI Guernsey Rugby Academy under-10 squad have brought home the silverware from the Cobham Festival.
The Sarnians flew to the UK on Sunday for their first fixture of the season not knowing whether the event would be on or not due to the terrible weather conditions over the preceding week.
Thankfully, the clouds parted, the wind dropped and the sun shone and, due to a lot of hard work by the Cobham Rugby Club, the pitches were in a playable condition.
Guernsey were in a pool of three with squads from Chobham and Reeds.
First up were Chobham and some fantastic rucking from the Guernsey forwards George McLellan, Toby Glass, Oliver Stockwell and Tom Miselke-Evans saw the backs getting plenty of possession.
Jean-Luc de Garis, Thomas Teasdale and Ben Holland all made the most of it by scoring tries.
Then Stockwell showed that the forwards can score tries as well and the match finished 20-0 to Guernsey.
It was the same score against Reeds in another good game for Guernsey with outside centre Rory Betley hitting the line at pace and showing some dazzling footwork that left the Reeds defence tackling shadows. He finished the game with a hat-trick of tries, with winger Tom Rihoy getting the other.
Guernsey came up against the host club, Cobham, in the semi-final.
As the first half progressed the Guernsey forwards started to dominate the breakdowns, putting the opposition on the back foot and giving the backs more and more ball and space.
Scrum half Holland’s accurate passing saw stand off Dan Moore step off his left foot and leave the Cobham defence in his wake, unluckily getting hurt as he dived for the line.
Next a defence-splitting run from Rihoy made it a second try.
Cobham’s heads were dropping and tackles were being missed and the flying Betley was unstoppable, collecting another four tries as Guernsey ran out convincing 30-0 winners.
The final was against Teddington.
Moore and Teasdale worked well getting over the gain-line time and time again and when new winger John Le Noury went on an explosive run, only some good last-ditch tacking stopped him just short of the line.
George Simmons and de Garis both came close too, but in the end it was Rihoy who broke the deadlock followed by Betley and Stockwell.
In the second half Teddington regrouped and came back strongly, putting Guernsey on the back foot making them defend their line again and again.
But the Sarnian defence was too good and the tackles too big.
In the end Rihoy set off from his touchline for a breakaway try, which broke Teddington’s spirits.
The game finished 20-0.
‘The hospitality shown by the Cobham Rugby Club to the Guernsey squad was tremendous,’ said head coach Ian Farrell.
‘All the boys put in a great performance and while it is a great start to the season, we must continue to work hard in training and keep our eyes on the main event, the Siam Cup, which is still a long way off.’
Article posted on 19th November, 2009 - 2.29pm
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