Having finished the 15 a-side season on a high, Brighton Blues U16's have started training toward some 7 and 10 a-side fixtures with the aim of continuing to develop basic skills and fitness to exploit the extra space on the pitch.
With not many 7's tournaments on the radar due to the impending GCSE exams, we were glad to receive an invitation to attend the 10's tournament the Amersham & Chiltern were hosting.
Not having played Amersham & Chiltern during the regular season, we were looking forward to what we knew would be a competitive match and this was only added to with the addition of Chelmsford to the tournament, another side who we'd originally been due to play during the regular season but which fixture was lost to the appalling weather in January and February.
We started the day strongly, with a convincing victory over Ealing which was followed by further strong performances against High Wycombe and Chinnor. Strong first half performances in these games allowed us to rotate our players which we knew could prove key as the afternoon continued. Next up was Chelmsford and the Blues organisation and understanding of how to play 10s saw another victory and set up what would effectively be the final against Amersham & Chiltern in the last game of the afternoon.
We started as we had done all our other matches with an early score. However, Amersham & Chiltern showing their class used a period of sustained possession and some well placed kicks to gain the territorial advantage, scoring late in the first half to level the scores at 7-7. As had been the case in the Sussex Cup Final, the Blues belief in themselves never faltered and they put in a strong second half performance, regaining the territorial advantage and scoring to make the final score 14-7.
As well as congratulating the boys on another great effort, Brighton U16's would like to thank Amersham & Chiltern Rugby Club and Sytner BMW for hosting and sponsoring the event. A great day had by all!