U11's excel at Harlequins
Jersey Rugby Academy U11 - JEP Report
Harlequins Rugby Festival, Sunday 16th November
The U11 Squad travelled to Harlequins Rugby Union Club, at Twickenham and next door to the home of England Rugby, last Sunday, to play in a festival of rugby.
Having caught the first flight to Gatwick and travelled by coach to Twickenham Jersey had to play a difficult first match against a strong Ely RFC team. After a difficult few minutes spent defending ferociously Harry Jenkins scored a typical scrum half try by pick up a loose ball at the edge of ruck and diving through to touch down. Later in half Jersey full back Stefan le Brun picked a loose ball deep in his own half and showed why he is the ChannelIsland sprint champion by out running all the defence to score in the corner. Ely RFC scored a late try following a line-out when their big 2nd Row powered though the Jersey defence. This turned out to be the only try that Jersey conceded in whole festival. Final Score 10 – 5.
Buoyed by this early victory the team next faced the challenge of pre-tournament favourites Haywards Heath RFC . This was an extremely difficult contest with no quarter neither asked nor given. The whole teams defence was magnificent and each time it looked as if the opposition were bound to score a crunching tackle would arrive just in time. The forwards, led by pack leader Cameron Queree were the foundation for the breakaway try scored by Stefan le Brun, this time playing as Centre. Jersey finished this match as deserved winners. Final Score 5 - 0.
Without any break Jersey took on their next challenge, against Havant RFC. This turned out to be a extremely physical contest with each defence cancelling out every attack. The game finished without a score but does not reflect the amount of hard work and passion showed by the whole of the Jersey Squad. Michael Butler Alex Collie in the forwards and Evan Nobes and George Crane in the backs made many critical tackles. The backs worked hard to break down the opposition in attack and as a team in defence. Final Score 0 - 0.
The forwards took control of the scrums in the fourth match against Southend, taking four scrums ’against the head’ and set the platform for the backs to run. William Kaye playing his first festival at fly half released his backs to run in 5 trys and scored one himself. Solomon Warner playing at centre for the first time scored 3 tries. Luca Margaroli and Sam King showed their pace and strength in scoring the other 2 two trys. Final Score 30 - 0.
The final game saw the welcome return to the team of Jason Stokes who had gone off in game 2 with a head injury, the doctor passed him fit and his defence and strong running helped Jersey win the game against Petersfield. Trys came from Sam King (2) Solomon Warner and Luca Margaroli. The crucial last try, and consequent bonus point, coming only 30 seconds from full time. Final Score 20 – 0.
By scoring the bonus points for 4 trys or more against both Southend and Petersfield the JerseyAcademy side won the tournament by one point.
As a result of winning this festival Jersey have qualified for the semi finals of the ’Etihad’ Curtain Raiser Cup which will played in March as a ’warm-up’ to Harlequins home fixture against Saracens.
Coach David Kaye commented: "This was a really successful start for the season by the U11’s with everyone making both a positive contribution as individuals and as, more importantly, part of a team. This is the beginning of a very busy fixture list and there is still much to work on."
The day finished with squad watching Harlequins thoroughly outplay London Wasps.
Squad:
Cameron Queree, Michael Butler ,George Crane, Sam King, Reid O’Neill, Solomon Warner, Willoughby Brewer, Alexander Collie, Max Whelan, Evan Nobes, Luca Margaroli, Jonathan Anderson, William Kaye, Jason Stokes, Stefan le Brun, Harry Jenkins.