The U13s made a late entry to the Penrith 7s tournament having to cancel the fixture with Rockcliffe due to unavailability of players because it was Mothers Day (whats the world coming to!!!)
However it was decided that we could still make up a decent squad of 10.

On arriving the sun was out and conditions were perfect for some 7s rugby. We were drawn against Thirsk, Wigton, and Fylde although Wigton did not turn up so a BaBas team was put together.
After the first round of matches it was clear that the winners were going to be Carlisle or Fylde, who were fielding a team of giants and the icing on the cake was that we were to meet them in the final game.

Our first match was against Thirsk who put on a spirited performance but went down 55-0 nil. Oz scoring his first of 3 hat-tricks of the day. Archie and Robbie getting a brace each Issac, Alfie, Ben and Tom getting 1 each. However in the spirit of the game Carlisle were told to ease off in the 2nd half only to find out that for every 4 tries scored a bonus pint was awarded, we would make no such mistake again!

The second match against the BaBas was a good physical game with Fylde providing half of the players. Carlisle eventually ran out 40-0 winners. At the beginning of the tournament the coaches asked for a nil try count against us for as long as possible and Carlisle were determined to keep a clean sheet, in the last second of the game the BaBas made a storming run form their own 22 and looked certain to dot down in the corner, but Thomas Burton was having none of it, he tracked the guy the entire length of the pitch and threw everything in to the tackle to haul the lad down short of the line to end the game with our try line still intact. This is the type of commitment that as a coach you like to see. Last second of the game 40-0 up and still wanting to keep a clean sheet fantastic. Oz scored his 2nd hat-trick, Archie and Robbie with a couple each again. Unfortunately we lost Peter to a late tackle in this match and he was to play no further part in the day.

Now the serious stuff started, Penrith were next and having done some quick calculations we knew we could get our noses in front of Fylde if we could secure 2 bonus points as they only managed 1 against Penrith. Our QEGs contingent of Peter and Archie were determined to get one over on their jeering schoolmates and no mercy was shown, Archie Rattray was up for it, in the first second of the match he went flying into the tackle only to find himself connecting with fresh air, much to the amusement of his Penrith pals on the sideline. That was the last mistake he was going to make and then proceeded to run in a hat-trick to silence the baying mob!! Again our try line was kept intact thanks to a crunching tackle from Billy in the corner when it looked certain that Penrith were going to be the first ones to breach the Carlisle defence, but alas it was not to be and with Carlisle eventually running in 11 tries we made the score 55-0. Oz only managed 2 tries this match which just isn’t good enough!!! Robbie also secured his first Hat-trick of the day. Always nice to get one over on the Green & Whites.

Now was the game that we had been waiting for, the mighty Fylde packed with big runners awaited us, but the shrewd Carlisle lads had noticed that they may not be quite as physical as we could be and decided that’s where we would target them. So we took the field and an early lead through Freddie with a lovely taken try from a fantastic pass from Ben Tiffen in the first minute of the match. The opposition were stunned and started to play, with their 6 ft 1 fly half running the show they started to put Carlisle to the sword, half time 5-15 to Fylde. In the huddle it was identified that we could not let their play maker run the show anymore, a quality player and was managing to plug our ball at the ruck. Carlisle decided that if we were to win the game we had to nullify him at ruck time and that we would hit the rucks with a bit more zealous. So in to the 2nd half we went, Oz touching down early on made the score 15-10, game on! But back they came and ran through some dubious Carlisle defence to score in the corner 10-20, it was not looking good now for the Carlisle lads 10 points down and 5 mins left we needed to crank things up. Following a scrum in the Fylde half Freddie made a break left, taking the ball to the floor in front of their play maker, we seemed doomed to lose possession again, but Carlisle were not giving up the ball this time, with Archie throwing himself into the ruck from what seemed like 20 yards away the Fylde lad was taken out of the game and the ball secured, this action put a bit of doubt in the 10’s mind and a bit of verbals ensued. The two of them were now on each others radar and neither was giving any quarter. After a couple more collisions between the pair the Fylde lad was retired from the field of play, but what a contribution he had made. Play carried on and then Carlisle were dealt a double injury blow, Archie and Alfie both had to leave the field with head injuries which meant we were now down to our last 7 players, we had lost our skipper and our own 6 ft giraffe, surely now Fylde would take advantage and run out comfortable winners of this clash. But no! Carlisle dug deep and upped the physicality once again with Robbie leading the charge. Carlisle were the more physical of the two teams and with some fantastic tackling from Billy, Issac and Ben were determined not to let Fylde out of their 22 for the rest of the match. With this tactic working Oz manged to muscle his way over for 2 more great tries to level the score 20-20 and bringing him his hat-trick of hat-tricks. That ended the game and due to our superior points difference brought us also the trophy.

A great day out for the lads and parents who came to support us and a huge congrats to Penrith for putting on such a great event.
I would also like to thank the entire squad who all showed the commitment it takes to play against some of the best teams in the North.

Archie Rattray
Ben Tiffen
Oz Roberts
Alfie Batty
Issac Tait
Freddie Rawlings
Peter Gower
Tom Burton
Billy
Robbie Moffat

Reporter Scott Rattray