Date of release: Sun 9th March 2008

“Festival is a big success”

The sun shone down on the Hinckley RFC Festival as hundreds of children enjoyed a terrific day’s rugby at Leicester Road on Sunday 9th March 2008.

Hinckley Under 7s sponsored by Hinckley Round Table hosted a number of teams to compete in the Hinckley Festival. 8 teams contested for the trophy of which two were representing Hinckley RFC under 7s, The Lions and The Tigers.
Pool A contained The Tigers who played three matches, drawing two of them and narrowly losing one. In the first game against Old Coventrians RFC, Payne scored a hat-trick of tries for The Tigers assisted by two from England and one each from Sharkey, Goldby and Upton resulting in a tied match of 40 points each. The second game against Syston RFC resulting in 35 points to 30 defeat, despite 2 tries Goldby and one each from Sharkey, Thorpe, Davey and England. The final match against Sutton Coldfield RFC finished 25-25 after tries from England (2), Payne, Upton and Sharkey. Unfortunately, the overall results were not sufficient for The Tigers to progress further in the competition.
Pool B contained the Lions who met Lutterworth RFC in their first match, easing to a 30 points to 15 victory after two tries each from Chenery and Nixon and one from Whitehurst. The Lions second game also ended in a victory by the same score against Cosby RFC after two tries from Chenery and one each from Morrissey, Nixon, Delo and Hall-Crowfoot. Their third game ended in a defeat against Ashby RFC with The Lions scoring a solitary try from Morrissey resulting in a 20 points to 5 final score. However, the earlier victories were enough to see the Lions contest the third and fourth place play-off against Syston whom they beat by 35 points to 20. Hall-Crowfoot (2), Chenery (2), Goldhurst, Delo and Morrissey all touched down for The Lions securing third place in the tournament which was eventually won by Old Coventrians RFC.

Hinckley Under 8s started well against Cosby in a very tight game, but lost out in the final seconds. Cavanagh, Gibson, Jordan and Roan made it onto the score sheet for Hinckley. Final score Hinckley 20 - Cosby 25. The second match was a tough game against Ashby. Despite some good defensive play Hinckley lost out to the explosive running of the Ashby side. Babb, Gibson and Jordan all crossed the line for Hinckley. Final score Hinckley 15 - Ashby 40. In their final game, Hinckley put together some good passing play along with some excellent running to clinch the game. Gibson scored twice for Hinckley with the remaining points coming from Babb, Cavanagh, Davies and Jordan. Final score Hinckley 30 -Lichfield 15.

Hinckley Under 10s squad.

Hinckley Under 10’s sponsored by AMG, Thermoskin and 600 Services fielded Bees, Hornets & a Barbarians team from Hinckley and Syston in the Hinckley Festival.
Hornets first match was against a strong Old Coventrians who controlled the match from start to finish winning the match 35-5, Hinckley’s try coming from Downes who also was awarded Man of the Match. Tackler of the Match was Higginson. Hornets played much better against Aylestone St James, but went down 15-0. Man of the Match was Croasdale and tackler going to Hipwell. Hornets started off well against Sutton Coldfield then missed a succession of tackles as Sutton ran away with the match to win 25 points to 0. Man of the Match was Ward and Tackler of the Match was Egginton. Hornets final match was against Syston B this was Hornets best performance of the day but with all the early pressure that they applied they just could not turn this into points and as the game wore on Syston scored against the run of play. The final score Syston had added another to win 10 points to 0. Man of the Match awarded to Cammiss and Tackler of the Match going to Thomas. Hornets Player of the Tournament went to Ward.
Bees played Syston in their first game and went down 15-0. Man of the Match was Baker and Tackler of the Match was Stretton. Bees next match against Ashby was very even, both sides making some great tackles. In the final play of the first half Ashby slipped through the Bees defence to lead 5-0. Bees came fighting back to even the match up. Ashby scored immediately to retake the lead but Bees put the ball out to Tuffin who danced his way past Ashby’s defence to score. The final score 10-10. Man of the Match was Collings. Tackler of the Match was Tuffin. Bees faced Lutterworth in their final pool match. Collings picked the ball up from a ruck and drove his way to the corner for a well deserved try, but in the final play of the match Lutterworth caught Hinckley out with a great move to level at 5-5. Man of the Match was Reeves and Tackler of the Match was Houghton. Bees Player of the Tournament went to Reeves.
A Barbarians team from Syston and Hinckley went down 5-0 to Syston in their first match. Man of the Match was Lowndes. They followed that with a 15-0 defeat to Aylestone St James. Man of the Match was Griffiths. They bounced back to defeat Hinckley Hornets 10-0 with a great try from Padbury who was also Man of the Match. They finished off the festival against Old Coventrians who won 30-5. Barbarians Player of the Tournament went to Lowndes.
The eventual winners were Syston beating Coventrians and the runners up play off went to Lutterworth beating Sutton Coldfield.

Hinckley Under 11’s, sponsored by TMS Volvo and J&H Construction, enjoyed a successful Hinckley Festival. Hinckley started in determined fashion against Cosby but found it difficult to puncture a resolute Cosby defence until the breakthrough was made by a well supported Atkinson run. Hinckley quickly added scores by Ruskin and Brown before half time. Cosby came out for the second half playing downhill and looking to narrow the gap but were stunned by Hinckley grit as they increased their lead with another Brown try and a great run by Nixon for a final score of Hinckley 25 Cosby 0 with Man of the Match going to Bowler who worked hard for the team winning some great ball. Hinckley showed the same remorselessness in their next match versus a big Ashby side with Atkinson opening the scoring followed by another by Brown. Atkinson opened the second half with his second try of the match and closed it with a great pass to Nixon who gathered the ball at full speed to puncture the Ashby defence with a superb try for a final score of Hinckley 20 Ashby 0. Man of the Match went to Coupland who nearly added to the score with a strong run. In their last pool match, Hinckley took on Lichfield and put in another dogged performance with Atkinson again opening the scoring followed by a powerful run and try by Williams. Williams got his second before the break with a punchy close range charge from a lineout. The only score of the second half was by Sephton to give a result of Hinckley 20 Lichfield 0. Pook was Man of the Match for good feeder work to the backs after the forwards had won the ball. Hinckley were now through to the Grand Final with Old Coventrians who were unbeaten this season. In an incredibly intense match Old Coventrians piled on the early pressure, breaking Hinckley’s perfect defensive record to score first. Keeping their heads, Hinckley responded with a fine run by Atkinson who crossed the whitewash in every match. In the second half Hinckley weathered early Old Coventrian assaults before applying their own pressure but were unable to capitalise with a score for a drawn final Hinckley 5 Old Coventrians 5. Hinckley agreed to waive their superior try difference and the teams shared the trophy as nothing could separate the two sides in the final. Man of the Match went to Nixon who had a fantastic day and so nearly scored the winner in the final.

Hinckley Under 12s sponsored by Nextgen Rigging started off the Festival against tough opponents in the form of Lutterworth and quickly found themselves 5 point adrift shortly after kick-off when they were caught napping with a bad bounce to see Lutterworth pounce to open the scoring, this was to prove decisive as despite a constant threat from the home side they were unable to gain parity. Final Score Hinckley 0 Lutterworth 5. Hinckley’s second game saw them play Ashby and this time there were no mistakes as Davis, Ginvert, Harkness and Wakelin all went over to contribute towards the final victory. Final Score Hinckley 25 Ashby 0. Hinckleys lads needed to gain a good victory against Litchfield in their final match to have any chance of progressing, unfortunately poor tackling led to a Litchfield try which despite constant Hinckley pressure the equalizer wouldn’t quite come! Final score Hinckley 0 Litchfield 5. Unfortunately Hinckley’s results went against them at this festival, but the lads put up a strong display considering Litchfield went on to win the tournament at this level and Lutterworth took the plate, a strong group in which any mistake was punished.

In the Juniors Hinckley Under 16s enjoyed a returned to winning ways with a high intensity performance to beat Broad Street 34-0. The forwards dominated from the start giving great platform for the backs to punch holes through the broad street defence. The first try From Oglesby who scooted round his winger then to convert his own try. The next try was from centre Abelson who drove through his opposite number to score close to the posts and again Oglesby converted. Hinckley had a lot pressure and prop Moule drove over for another. In the second half against the wind Hinckley drove through the middle switched the ball right to Marsden playing in an unfamiliar place on the wing who then stepped his winger to score in the corner. The last score came from Oglesby again who supported a forward drive to pop the ball over for deserved win.

For further information on any aspect of Hinckley RFC Mini and Juniors please contact the Chairman, Stuart Elder on 07721 407008.

Contact: Nigel Abraham
Press Officer
Telephone 07920 830515