A Hard day at the MObbS!

Match report by Head Coach James

We travelled with a strong squad for our second festival at Kettering this year – this time for the prestigious Mobbs festival.

The boys were awesome all morning. The defensive line was superb, the tackling was immense and our offloading and moving the ball wide got increasingly better as the morning went on. Playing against a number of strong sides, we played our best ever rugby – ruthless in defence and flowing in attack.

We opened up against Bugbrooke, scoring a handful of tries without conceding. Next up Towcester, a great game against a strong side, ending in a 1-1 draw. Our final group game against the ONs saw us win by a handful to one, with one particularly memorable wonderful team try – 3 great tackles and a turnover, followed by the ball moving through 4 pairs of hands as the ball moved across the pitch and over the ONs line. This result saw us finish top of a tough group. Wellingborough were beaten 4-0 in the semi-final before we played Towcester again in the final.

It was a great final, 0-0 at half time. Towcester scored first and we then responded and almost nicked it at the end, some great Towcester defence stopping some outstanding attacking rugby in the last play of the game.

The Mobbs rules state no extra time, our fate was to be decided by the toss of a coin. It is no way to lose, or win. Unfortunately, the coin came down tails up for Towcester.

Difficult to swallow and even more difficult to explain logically to the boys - we talked about how well we had played, how brave the boys had been, how they had tried their hearts out and played lovely rugby with smiles on their faces. We talked about how proud the boys should be to represent their wider U9 squad and our club and reminded them how proud their parents and our coaching team are of them.

In sport as in life. Much better to learn this lesson with a great bunch of mates around you. Congratulations to Towcester and good luck in the final.