Norwich Tour Match Report

Effingham & Leatherhead U15s - tour to Norwich
Friday - Sunday 11th - 13th April 2008

Effingham & Leatherhead Eagles U15 at The East Coast International Festival

Norwich RFC did a superb job of hosting the two day East Coast International Festival last weekend in an array of weather conditions ranging from balmy warm sunshine to hail, lightning, and the icy blast of a fierce north wind. The Eagles U15 touring squad, numbering an impressive 28 players, took part in a competition featuring Welsh and English teams.

Saturday saw an opening 5-0 loss to Norwich in a scrappy game that lacked any real fluency, rhythm or passion. Next opponents Hove were to reap the consequences of this as a newly determined Eagles pack led the way to a 30-0 win. The last encounter of the day was to bring a 15-5 victory against a strong but ill-disciplined Newbury side to put Effingham into a semi-final against Wolverhampton on Sunday.

Eventual festival winners Wolverhampton, unbeaten in their last 20 matches, were to go 15-0 ahead before Eagles mounted a spirited counter-offensive to pull back a try and look far the better unit in the closing stages of a superb semi-final which was comfortably the match of the tournament. The Wolverhampton coach was first in line at the final whistle to compliment Eagles on a standout performance.

Waiting in the third place play-off was a Norwich team that used the strong wind to good advantage in the first half to go one try up but the Effingham forwards began to take charge and had leveled the scores by half-time. Eagles were denied the wind in the second half as the nearby lightning storm skirted the ground and a prolonged hail storm heralded an Eagles frontal assault. The Effingham forwards now dominated long periods of play to set up a solid platform for the back division to run in two tries to win 15-5 and secure third place at the festival. Towards the end of the match Robert Ellis, who had an outstanding tournament, sustained a hand injury requiring surgery and the entire squad has passed on its best wishes for a speedy recovery.