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FINALS DAY OF THE HARLEQUINS CURTAIN RAISER COMPETITION, THE STOOP, TWICKENHAM
28 Apr 2007
As winners of their semi-final, Sevenoaks Under 9s travelled to The Stoop as one of only eight teams left to contest the finals of the Harlequins Curtain Raiser competition, a prestigious event that each year attracts a large number of entries from across the South of England and the Midlands.
Drawn with Sevenoaks in their pool were Battersea Ironside, Stourbridge, and Upminster. In their first match, Sevenoaks again faced the large and powerful Upminster side. As always, Upminster sought to use their big forwards as often as possible and Sevenoaks had to defend tenaciously, with Tom Cantlay and Harry Knox making some very big tackles. Opportunities for Sevenoaks to attack were very limited, and when they appeared, the Upminster defence held firm. With both defences dominating, the match finished 0-0.
The next match was against eventual winners Battersea Ironside. Sevenoaks were on the back foot for almost the entire match and they were 0-4 down before Tom Cantlay, whose commitment couldn’t be faulted, put together a brilliant, individual run that deservedly brought him a try. The final score was 1-4.he final pool match was against Stourbridge. Sevenoaks went down 0-2, a score that flattered the eventual group runners up.
Sevenoaks’ final match was against the team that had come fourth in the other pool, Tunbridge Wells. From the start, Sevenoaks displayed the attitude and commitment that has so often recently been the hallmark of their play - strong tackling, good support play, intelligent passing and powerful rucking. The first score came from a ruck won by Sevenoaks, with the ball coming to Josh Kidd whose strength enabled him to break the defending tackles and get over for a try. The second came from a passage of free-flowing play. From a break, the ball was quickly passed down the line with good ground being made before a ruck resulted in the ball again going down the line, this time to Marcus Lyne who was able to sprint away and score. Thus Sevenoaks finished their campaign with a 2-0 win.
Despite Sevenoaks being unable to recreate for most of the day the type of play they have demonstrated so often recently, they did tremendously well to reach the finals and, by doing so, can justifiably be proud of being one of the top teams in the South. Next week is the final festival of the season, the Worthing “A” event.
Squad
Tom Cantlay, Alfred Gard, Tom Hillier, Jack Ingamells, Louis Ingamells, Josh Kidd, Harry Knox, Marcus Lyne, Max Skinner, Kieran Thomas, Sam Thompson, Lawrence Thresher, George Wheadon, William Yates