Heath host autumn rugby under 11/12 festival

With three home sides in the tournament it was a great opportunity for the whole squad and enabled the coaching team to see every player in action.

They were not disappointed with Heath winning both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ tournaments to triumph over the 17 visiting teams. Head coach of the U11s Daniel Vander commented, “I was immensely proud of all the boys on Sunday, particularly the ‘B’ squad who were up against other local ‘A’ teams and came through to take the title in a hotly contested final against Crawley. With such a large squad these boys are now pushing for places in the ‘A’ squad who had a great result beating Brighton five tries to nil in their final”. The boys are now looking forward to Tournaments at Esher and Brighton next weekend.

Heath U12s fielded two teams - a Reds and a Blacks team - and each played some fast, attacking rugby with a high tempo and assertiveness in both the rucks and in contact. A disciplined display with more ball and more territory to play with, both Heath teams won all of their pool games against leading local rivals.

In their respective finals the Reds team beat a feisty and determined Heathfield side to win the Cup final and the Blacks team lost out in the Bowl final against a strong and energetic Pulborough side to be crowned Bowl runners-up. The highlight of the day was watching a scratch ‘U12 Barbarians’ team, made up of players from all teams at the festival and put together on the day, play some entertaining and free-flowing rugby to act as the stand-in team for a local Club which pulled out at the last minute. This was a great advert for the spirit of the game with all of the boys playing for the Sussex Baa-baas demonstrating the very real camaraderie at age 11 for which the game of rugby is so renowned and respected.

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