The set up at Hilversum Rugby Club was poor as most of the pitches were football pitches. There were 22 UK teams at this tournament so the games were more or less the same age groups. The games were 10 minutes each way with a 5 minute break for half time. Conversions were drop goals so no kicking tee was aloud.

Wheatley Hills vs. Lincoln

  The first game started drastically for Wheatley the ball was turned over in the first tackle and several missed tackles led to the first try which was not converted. As Wheatley fought to win the ball they kept on getting knocked back into their own 22. A strong run back from Matty was turned over and a chip over the top led to confusion between Lee and Adam led to Lincoln’s second try this time it was converted.  At half time the score was 10-0 to Lincoln.  After an earful from the coaches the teams went out for the second half and this time Wheatley took the upper hand after a good kick and chase from Ryan led to a knock on from the opposition’s fullback. From this Ryan picked up from the base of the scrum and broke through 3 tackles to score in the corner he then came close to converting from the touch line. Wheatley managed to hold the line after some good hits on the number 8 stopping the oppositions attack for the next few minutes. Then silly penalties from Lincoln gave Wheatley the chance to get back on the score board a knock on from the lineout gave Wheatley a second scrum close to the oppositions line.  Ryan picked up and broke through tackles and offloaded to Peo who then offloaded to Oli and then to Josh who then scored pulling Wheatley back into the game. The kick that could have brought Wheatley back into the game was again missed and the frustration was beginning to show on several players faces. The final whistle went and Wheatley had lost the first game of the tournament. The final score was 12-10.

Wheatley Hills vs. Marlow

A new nine came into the staring line up in Chris, after a long break before this game was played it was easy to see that Wheatley were not prepared to face Marlow. As the game got under way Wheatley were immediately under pressure and Marlow’s number 9 broke down the blind side to score in the corner this was not converted. As the pressure became greater and greater Marlow, after some missed tackles, broke through the line to score this time it was converted the score was now 12-0. After a riveting team talk Wheatley got back into the game and had strong runs from Ryan and Brad unfortunately Brad had to go of injured. As the ball was shipped wide the ball was grounded by Sam but it was ruled out for a knock on. After some shocking decisions from the Dutch referees Marlow once again took the upper hand and a strong break through from Marlow’s number 10 gave Marlow some what of an easy victory as they once again scored which was converted. Wheatley trudged off the pitches they had lost both of their opening matches. The final score was 19-0 Wheatley were bottom of their group with 0 wins and 2 defeats.

Wheatley Hills vs. Rumney

After a half an hour wait 1 or 2 of the players were stiff so Peo went onto the bench and Joe came on in the back row. The game got of to a dreadful start Wheatley conceding 2 tries in the first 5 minutes. As the Rumney attack grew stronger and stronger big tackles started to go in which angered the Rumney players and crowd. Ryan went off as he was suffering from stiffness so Peo came on in the back row. The half time whistle went. The players were tired and Sam had to come off as he suffered a knee injury, so Ryan came back on into fullback. The game was not long into the second half when a bad tackle went in on a Rumney player the ref calmed the situation down but that was not the end. 2 minutes later another horror tackle went in this time on Chris this lead to a crowd of players and then punches were thrown and a horrific punch up began and supporters ran on from both teams and then the ref decided to end the game the only good bit of refereeing all game.

Reviewed by:Ryan Craswell