Hove U10s A - Brighton Festival 16 Oct 16

In what was the first 'A' team festival of the season at Brighton, the 'A's had a good run out. First up was Haywards Heath, who had been our main competitors last season, but despite starting very hesitantly, the team got it together by the end with a 4:0 victory with strong wavy running by Noah Powell giving him a hat trick of tries and a try for William Haynes rounding off a strong opening performance.

Next up, the team faced Eastbourne whom we had not played much, and despite appearing strong at the tour last year, they were a shadow of that and it was a comfortable 7:0 victory for Hove with real power defensive play, offensive rucking and decisive running. Tries were 3 for Oliver Brooks, 2 for Dillon Moss and 1 each for William Haynes and Noah Powell.

Form was looking good for the next match which was Chichester and spirits were high after the shenanigans at Chichester in the first festival. However, in what was a very tight match, the team played poorly all round and Chichester got a lot of possession but only managed to cross our line once in the last play of the first half and with a fortuitous line out call in their favour. Despite dominating the second half with improved rucking and tackling we could not break them down and it ended in a win for Chichester which was celebrated by them with some gusto as they recognise we are the team to beat!

The defeat didn't knock the team though and to their credit they stepped up again against Pulborough with a comfortable 5:1 victory, with 2 tries for William Haynes and 1 each for Alex Kirwan, Luca Sell and Oliver Brooks.

The final match for us was against our local rivals (and mates) Brighton, but as usual we were too good for them and a passionate final performance led to a 4:0 win with 2 tries from William Haynes and one each from Dillon Moss and Sam Worne.

So altogether a great first run out for the A's in an A team festival. 4 out of 5 wins and encouragingly with 20 tries scored and only 2 tries conceded. Strong defence and strong attacking rugby is great to watch! Well played to Alex Kirwan, Archie Holmes, Dillon Moss, George Graham, Hugh Sarker, Luca Sell, Max Sherwood, Noah Powell, Oliver Brooks, Sam Worne and William Haynes.