Bishop’s Stortford Rugby Club’s Under 12’s team put in some excellent performances to share the cup with Old Albanians in scoreless final. To get to the final Stortford played five round robin games.

In their first fixture they played a hard fought contest against Chinnor. The forwards put in some good rucking a mauling and gradually overhauled their opponents with stout defence from the backs. The game was won with the only try of the game coming from Sam Hopkinson who from the base of an attacking scrum saw a gap in the opponents defence and darted over the line for a great opportunist try.

In their second game against the host Tring, Stortford were again in a tough encounter. In a hard fought contest a great team try the only one of the game was scored by Milo Linney. The forwards won a scrum close to their own line, with excellent running and handling by the backs provided an overlap and with great pace Milo was in no danger of being caught by his opposite number.

In their next game Stortford completed a much more comfortable win by 6 tries to nil against Hemel Hempstead (Camelot). A great try in the corner by AJ (Rinaldi-Jones) opening the scoring. A powerful run by Arriyan Wells soon followed up and by half time Stortford were 4 tries to nil up after a diving try from Harry Forbes and an elusive run from Milo deep from his own half. Stortford carried on with the good work in the second half with Ben Solomen scoring a try whilst leading a forward led drive over the try line. Arriyan finished off the scoring in the last play of the match with the forwards setting up the play and good link play by the backs allowed the try to be scored unopposed.

Against Chiltern the first half was a close affair with little pattern to the play. It was enlightened by a very good solo effort by Milo Linney who weaved his way through a crowded Chiltern defence to score the only try of the half. After a rousing team talk the forwards began to take over and the backs started to assert themselves. From a powerful Stortford scrum, Sam Hopkinson slipped his marker and before the opposition’s defence could react his was diving over the line. The final score of the game was an all round team effort with the backs combining with swift hands to allow Milo to race over for the third try for Stortford

In the final group game Welwyn were spirited opponents but were undone by a try by Milo Linney when a training ground set play opened up the defence for the score. From the kick off Brad Etherington led the chase and with their opponents under severe pressure he was driven over the line by the Stortford pack. The final try was scored by Arriyan Wells who with a powerful run was too much for a tiring defence and a score line of three tries to nil.

The final was against familiar opponents Old Albanians and it was a hard fought contest between two skilful and highly committed teams. The Stortford defence put in some big tackles and in turning defence into attack were almost successful when a driving maul was held up over the OA’s line. The deadlock could not be broken and the spoils were shared. It was a great squad effort with tremendous commitment from all the players, team inspiring talks from the coaches and vocal support from the parents.

Squad: Bennett, Crafford, Crowhurst, Etherington, Forbes, Hopkinson, James, Keen, Lilley (capt), Linney, Munro, Precious, Radley, Rinaldi- Jones, Solomon, Wells and Willis.

- Andy Keen