Herts Sevens 2010: the draw

Tring RFC, hosts of this years' Herts Sevens, have now made the draw for the tournament. Organiser Mark Firth reports:

Ladies and Gents,

The Draw (details below)
Last Night at OA's clubhouse the Herts 7's tournament draw took place, with celebrities and TV companies grounded due to Icelandic ash , our good friends from Herts RFU drew the teams whilst marching bands and the Chippendales danced in the spotlights.

We have 22 teams for the U15 section and 22 teams for the U18's participating in the tournament. We devised a "seeding" system that took into account last years finalists and tried to keep teams from the same counties apart from each other in the "league" stages,although some Hert's teams will play each other at that stage due to the number of teams entering from the area.

U18's - Late entrants Wisbech are in group 1, We have put a Ba Baa's side in group 3, Hertford have 3 ladies for the Ba Baa's but if other teams have "extra" players, please let me know, so we can confirm this Ba Baa's side. Groups 1 and 3 have 6 teams, so the 2 teams that finish bottom from those groups will play in a "wooden spoon" final.

U15's - Groups 1 and 3 have 6 teams, so the 2 teams that finish bottom in those groups will play in a  "wooden spoon" final.

U12's - We only had 2 teams enter, we are trying to get others involved and are talking to the 2 teams concerned, we do want to have an U12's section to this tournament.

What happens next?
1) In the coming 2 weeks ,we will announce the fixture schedule, Due to the number of teams we intend to kick off the tournament at 10:00am on the 16th May.

2) Once the league matches have produced a table, Group 1 winners will play Group 3 in the semi's, Group 2 winners will play Group 4 winners in the semi's for the cup,we will also have plate, Bowl, Shield and golden spoon semis and finals depending on where teams finish in the leagues, this should ensure all teams make a semi final.

3) We will issue details about parking etc at the same time as the fixtures. I NEED TO KNOW IF ANY TEAMS ARE COMING BY COACH SO I CAN MAKE PARKING ARRANGEMENTS.

Pre Tournament Entertainment
In Tring the largest company is Grass Roots PLC, they support a number of the towns sports clubs including the rugby club, to celebrate the companies 30th anniversary, they are holding a "SPIRIT OF TRING" night on Saturday 15th May at the football club next door to us, 6000 people are expected and Tring Rugby is helping organise food and drink for the event.

We cannot give any "group" discount" as this is a local fund raising event, BUT TRING RUGBY WILL SPONSOR A MEAL AND DRINK TICKET PER PERSON IN YOUR PARTY THAT BOOKS (please advise me once you have completed the online booking for yourself or group).

Any teams that are looking to travel up to the area the night before and want entertaining, the details are:
Doors open at 6m and the show will conclude around 10.30pm, TICKETS ARE: ADULT £20/ U16 £15 per person.

The fabulously talented and well known local band Soul Fish will kick the event off in style with their unique brand of high energy Soul and Rhythm & Blues.

They will be followed by The Music of Queen – A Rock & Symphonic Spectacular, which features a full rock band and songs from the West End smash hit musical We Will Rock You, combined with an orchestra, performing epic arrangements of Queen's huge hits.

The event will conclude with a stunning Proms Symphony Orchestra playing the full range of memorable classics.

There will be food,drink available and a fabulous fireworks finale.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND  TICKET PURCHASES CAN BE FOUND AT - www.spirit-of-tring.com

U15 DRAW

Group 1
London Irish
Aylestone St James
Oxfordshire A
Letchworth Saracens
Oakmeadians
OA's

Group 2
Welwyn Garden City
Rochford 100
Ealing Middx leapords
Guildford
Old Northampton

Group 3
Worcester
Berkshire Ba Baa's
Stevenage
Camberley
Oxfordshire B
Royston

Group 4
Paviors
Bucks Jesters
Hertford
Newquay
Bishop Stortford

U18 DRAW

Group 1
London Irish
Bucks Jesters
Oakmeadians
Oxfordshire
Royston
Wisbech


Group 2
Worcester
Paviors
Ealing Middx Leapords
Bishop Stortford
Welwyn Garden City Sinners

Group 3
Welwyn Garden City Saints
Reading
Newquay
Richard Hale School
Aylestone St James B
Hertford BA BAA'S

Group 4
Rochford 100
Letchworth Saracens
Aylestone St James A
Thomas Becket School
Old Northampton

Kind Regards

Mark Firth,TringRugby

Gloucester 10's Hartpury College 17-18 April

Under 18 Tournament:

Cup: Winners - Worcester; Runners up - Welwyn.

Shield: Winners - Reading; Runners up - Thornbury.

Plate: Winners - Burfield; Runners up - Newport.

Under 15 Tournament:

Cup: Winners - Worcester; Runners up - Welwyn.

Bowl: Winners - Ellingham and Ringwood; Runners up - Newport.

Plate: Winners - Exeter; Runners up - Reading.


Results involving Herts Team:

U15 Tournament:

Group stage:

Welwyn 17 Burfield 0
Welwyn 12 Drybrook 0
Welwyn 26 Cleve 0

Cup Quarter Final:

Welwyn 22 Newport 5

Cup Semi Final:

Welwyn 10 Cardiff 5

Cup Final:

Welwyn 0 Worcester 12

U18 Tournament:

Group stage:

Welwyn 5 Burfield 0
Welwyn 10 Reading 7


Cup Quarter Final:

Welwyn 19 Thornbury 14

Cup Semi Final:

Welwyn 12 Cardiff 7

Cup Final:

Welwyn 0 Worcester 17

Regional Festival Results Litchfield RFC 10 + 11 April 2010

Under 15s

Group 3:

East 17 Yorkshire 0
East 0 Scarletts 7

Plate (5th-8th):
West Midlands 7 East 5

7th/8th:
East 17 North West 7 (East U15 finished 7th)

Under 18s

Group 1:

North West 0 East 10
Scarletts 7 East 7

Cup (1st-4th):

East 12 South West South 5
South 12 South West North 7

Cup Final: East 0 South 0 (East U18 finished as joint winners)

A strong East U18 Squad went to the Regional Festival, with Herts. girls playing a substantial role. The Draw saw East yet again with the Welsh Regional Winners in their Group, a strong Scarlets team containing an number of their U18 players who played last week for Wales. First up for the East was a North West Team who had battled hard to hold the Scarlets to a draw. East knew a win was necessary and started well applying pressure from the kick off. North West tackled and defended well again but the East were too strong and won 10:0. Next up were the Scarlets and East were all up for this tough encounter. Unfortunately an early mistake in the backs saw the Scarlets intercept the ball and run in a Try under the posts. East came right back at the Scarlets and the rest of the game saw the East pressing the Scarlets line in wave after wave of attack and stout defending of the line by the Scarlets keeping them out. With two minutes left Chloe Bake made a break down the right but was tackled into touch just short of the line. The pressure on the Scarlets lineout saw them throw not straight. The Scrum to East was won cleanly and the ball was passed down the line to Alex Grant who was driven over under the posts. Emily Scott kicked the conversion to see East draw and progress to the Cup Semi-Final.

Here they came up against a resurgent South West South. From the kick off East attacked SWS. This paid off with a score in the first minute easing their nerves. SWS came back but the East defence was strong and kept the pressure on SWS preventing them from building momentum. In the second half built up the pressure on the SWS constantly attacking the line and were rewarded with another Try by India giving a 12:0 lead. SWS came back from the kick off and got their reward with an unconverted try in the corner, but the East defence held out for the final two minutes.

This set up a rematch of last year’s Final against the South. This was a Final everyone knew would be decided on by the narrowest of margins, a mistake or unlucky bounce of the ball. Every Player gave 110%, ferocious tackling stopped every break and neither team could get the ascendancy. Injuries abounded by the nature of the contest making it a stop start game. The East finally got the break with a long range Penalty but in the windy conditions it drifted narrowly wide and the game finished 0:0. In sudden death for 5 minutes, neither team making a mistake or giving an inch. Again East got a Penalty, this time out wide by the Touchline and again the ball drifted just wide in the wind. At the end both teams fought each other to a standstill and the Trophy for the last ever Girls Regional Festival was shared, with the East U18 being undefeated for the past two years, having won the Cup Final in 2009.