Herts Tag Festival

Royston Rascals

Royston opened the herts tag festival against barnet elizabethians which was a step into the unknown having never played them before, barnet showed they had some cracking passers and were strong taggers but roystons strong runners butler and Weimann proved elusives and the hands of Cockburn and green proved as strong to play out a entertaining 7-7 draw

The next fixture was against a strong Harpenden side, this proved a touch more physical which the boys enjoyed with ramdsen and hill particually stepping up, and turkington adding a couple of delicious sidesteps to play out another draw – 6-6, this harpenden side was fantastic, their passing and running lines were exceptional and for our lads it was a good lesson in resilience and the importance of sticking together, and if truth be told ive gone with the refs score here as harpenden looked a cracking side

Royston then took on the heavily fancied old Albanians side,
These guys looked the part and the young rascals stepped up to another level of play, Green threw dummy after dummy to break their gane line 4 times in succession before offloading unselfishly to team mates in space before intercepting a try scoring pass to run the length of the pitch to bag a try of his own, this was followed by a 6 man passing move where O A’S didn’t get a single tag before ramsden touched down the ultimate team try, O A’s clung on though and the fitness and pace of their hole side kept them in it, this game finished a highly creditable 7-7 draw as the young rascals visibly grew tired and were often asking to be subbed off due to sheer exhaustion, having said that this was possibly the most impressive game of tag this writer has ever witnessed
After a well earned burger break royston took on Tring
Tring have a very well deserved reputation as a strong side and boy did they show it in the frist few phases, royston to their credit held on and achieved a few 7 tag turnovers to get possession which they started to use to its full potential…… then the floodgates opened, royston scored try after try, Weimann twice, the Cockburn with a brace then green, then Turks, then hill, then ramsden, then butler the team play was at such a level that when the wistle went with the score at 9-4 in the rascals favour the boys could of played another hour, they were having a blast and really enjoying what the game of tag is about
The final fixture of the day was against Tabard
Probably a game to far for our weary rascals, who started so strongly, tags and turnovers were flying all over the place and substitutions were becoming more frequent as little legs wore out, the running onto the ball of the royston players was a joy to watch and the 6-6 draw was played in fantastic spirit against a very good team
Coaches comment – what a day, the kids had a blast and the level of play and the teams we played against is something we can aspire to for the forthcoming season

Royston Rockets Pitch 11
Rockets v OA’s Sharks
The Rockets started the day on a positive winning way with scores from George, Alistair and Henry followed by massive defence from Madison, Ewan and Matthew the rockets opened up a 3-1 score line in the first half. OA’s got the bit between their teeth early in the 2nd half to pull it back to just 1 score difference. But with some sound defence from the team and a remarkable diving tag from Conor Rockets won 8-7.

Rockets v Barnet
Rockets again started very well with scores coming from all players, Barnet however were not to be out done and with some slick passing and superb support play there managed to take the game by 7-6.

Rockets v Harpenden
What a game this turned out to be with both sides scoring tit for tat and at half time it was 5 all. With some super runs by George, Jack and Alistair the rockets edged ahead by 2, but a couple of missed tags and that Harpenden that would not accept defeat it ended up a draw at 8-8.

Rocket v Tring Panthers
Tring start on fire and ran in 3 scores, however the Rockets were not to be out done with the pairing of Madison and George Rockets got it back to 3-3 at half time. With truly inspired performance by the whole team after a gee up from the coach at half time the Rockets took the game to a different level with everyone preforming to their best and more scores from the whole team Rockets ran out winners 9-6.

Coaches Comment
I would like to that all my players for a truly wonderful day of lovely rugby, superb teamwork and support which made a pleasure to coach them on the day.

Royston Raiders @ The Herts Tag Festival

Team - Rory Mc, Harry R, Harry B, Larson, Ethan, Louis, Ben, Alex.

To describe today's games I would have to start with a word from Louis......EPIC. We played 5 matches and came away with 5 wins.

Our opening match was against Verulamium Sharks and despite an early wobble towards "the slow Royston start" we rallied in the second half to display the supporting play the became our calling card for the day. Combinations of drives from Alex with Larson and Ethan supporting popping the scoring pass to Louis flying in from the wing. Tagging by the entire team gave us our first 7 tag turnover for the day, but not our last.

OA Tigers were our second victim gaining us our next 7 tag turnovers thanks to the outstanding tagging of Harry B, Rory and Ben. Ben's steady hands at the restart then gave the pocket rocket Harry R the opening to blast through to convert the turnover.

Our dominance of the group was starting to give the team the confidence to add style to the substance of their play. Combinations of all the squad were now running lines at the unfortunate defence popping passes inside and outside with support running on to each. You had Alex with Larson, Ethan, Rory and Louis one minute then Harry B, Ben, Harry R blitzing through the next. It did not matter which 6 kids were in the pitch they were looking for space and following in to support. Harpenden never stood a chance.

Our 4th match was against Stevenage. Our defence tied them into such knots that we ended getting caught up in the melee and going offside. But, we held our ground and several times we went 10- 15 tags without giving away a try. But it was our speed in the break that saw off Stevenage.

Finally we faced Welwyn. The first half showed how tired the kids were and at half time while they were holding their own they were feeling the pressure. But they picked themselves up and put in the most spectacular performance I have ever seen from any of our teams. Ben's dive to get the 7th tag for our first turnover of the half was amazing. Alex spinning a long pass out wide to Harry R who scored in the corner was inspired. But without a doubt the teamwork those guys showed in drifting the attack across the field, passing ahead of the tag, support players looking for space and the attacking player passing into space was like I said at the start just EPIC.

I am very proud of the play and the respect we showed to the other teams. I would also like to thank the dads on the sideline for their support and encouragement.