Festival 5 match report (Sigtuna 8th June)

A glorious day in Sigtuna today, the perfect way to start the summer break.

First up was Enköping. We dominated the game, scoring plenty of tries and just conceding once. The team worked hard in the baking sun before...

...facing RCLF (formally the French school) in the second game immediately after with no break. It was their first game of the day, so they were fresher, and they'd talked about meeting us in their training, targeting it as a must-win game after we beat them a few weeks ago.

Hats off to RCLF, they are a very good team and do the basics very well. As a rugby fan, it's impossible not to be impressed with their tackling, passing and rucking. We knew we were in a tough game instantly.

The team quickly realised that individual running, which has been so effective against weaker teams, just wasn't going to work against a team full of competent tacklers. The team switched to a passing game, just as we'd trained earlier in the week, which made all the difference. We came back from two scores down to fight like lions and draw the match. It's the first game we haven't won all season so far. Well done to all the players from both sides for a fabulous game.

Finally we played the hosts, Sigtuna, a big, older team that has improved no end since last year. The story of the match was a familiar one: close at half time, then our team pulling away in the second half. Some great passing out to the wings resulted in a fair few tries.

We've enjoyed plenty of success so far this season, but the most pleasing thing for all of the coaches is the development of each and every player in the past few months. We are particularly pleased that some of the newer members of the squad have gone from not knowing the rules of the game a few months ago to contributing meaningfully at festivals. Keep up the good work!

It was sad to say goodbye to two long-standing members of the team as they go off to have adventures in other countries. Peter & Louis will be missed enormously, but will always be welcome back to the club if the opportunity ever arises. Stay in the rugby family, lads, keep training hard and I'm sure you'll both grow into fine players in the future.

Enjoy a fantastic break...summer homework is practicing passing out of the 'wrong' hand! :-)

/The coaches