U7s show their skills at the Lexus Tournament

After much anticipation by the team, the Lexus Tournament finally came round and the squad of 8 U7s joined the rest of the teams on a visit to Old Albanians.

After marvelling at the facilities and the superb event laid on by Lexus, we got down to playing against what turned out to be some of the best teams we are likely to face all season, with a very high level of organised, focused, and sometimes rather physical play throughout.

The group matches saw a good start against Barkers Butts (from Coventry), a fairly even game with plenty of running from both sides. Tries from Noah, Henry, Harry and Theo kept things close, however a couple of turnovers saw St Ives losing out in the end.

The next match saw the boys up against the hosts (and eventual winners), and although there was an obvious difference between the sides St Ives kept going for the tags and try line whenever they could. Theo, Ethan and Jess all ran in tries.

The final group match was against Reeds from Weybridge - whatever they eat for breakfast down that way clearly works, as they made their size advantage count by taking a few quick tries to build a lead. However St Ives adapted to the more physical style, showing some good teamwork in their passing moves to keep the ball going forwards. Tries went in from Henry, Theo, Ethan, Edward and Noah, but it wasn't enough to prevent a third defeat.

Despite the situation every player was keen to get on the pitch for more rugby, and it was crucial to win the next play-off match to make sure they could play a 5th game (as one team did not turn up). The match against Colchester was a superb effort, with the boys pulling together to score 5 tries in the first half, including a great piece of quick reaction from Edward to pick up a loose ball, then run 3/4 of the field to touch down for a try. The level of determined tagging from the whole team was turned up a notch in the second half, and they held on for a 5-3 win. Tries came from Edward, Jess and Henry.

The final match (the 5th/6th playoff) turned out to be a rematch against Barkers Butts, and the scoring followed almost the same pattern as the first match with a couple of turnovers deciding things. However by this time the boys were spreading the ball around well to find the gaps in a good defence, and so tries came from Theo, Edward, Harry, Jess, Henry and Ethan.

St Ives scored 26 tries in total, with Harvey very unlucky to get on the scoresheet after putting in a great running performance whenever he played. The boys will have learned a lot from their day, and definitely enjoyed the experience of a very well-run event.

Player of the Day was a tough decision, with excellent all-round performances from everyone, but the trophy went to Jess for his persistent running and dodging in attack, and his continuous smile through the whole event!