The Inaugural 2015 Shepherd Neame Spitfire 10-a-side Tournament

The Inaugural end of season 2015 Spitfire 10 a side Tournament at Folkestone RFC.

Saturday 2nd May 2015 Report by Steve Hughes.

Folkestone Rugby Club, by popular request, changed the date of their annual competition from the August Bank Holiday to the May Bank Holiday and instead of a fifteen a-side reduced it to a ten-a-side tournament. In addition to the men’s competition they ran a ladies tournament for the first time. On a cold and blustery day five men’s sides and three Ladies sides played two separate 'round-robin' sessions. This proved to be a compact, continuous run of attractive, fast moving rugby which kept the large crowd captivated for six hours, finishing with the awards of trophies and prizes.
Organiser John Kidson had just six weeks to put the event into being and was worried that, given the short period of time he had, would suffer from the lack of entrants. Several of the regular participants in the September event had already committed themselves to end of season tours, annual dinners etc., and were disappointed not to be able to attend but looked forward to the future competitions in its new format.
The early rounds showed that three teams would progress as favourites with Ashford, Aylesford and Folkestone racking up in excess of 50 points each.
In the penultimate matches, Folkestone narrowly won against a strong Aylesford side by 24 - 17 and Ashford beat the Honey Bees by 49 - 10.
It meant that if Folkestone beat Ashford in the last match of the competition they would be outright winners and did just that by 26 -19.
Coach Leigh Fitchie and Captain Martin Murray were pleased with the performance of their squad which showed potential for the new season in September which could see an influx of new and returning player into the fold.
The three referees had a busy time covering two pitches with continuous games and must be congratulated for running a tight ship and allowing the games to flow to the delight of the crowd.
The Ladies teams were from Aylesford (The Bra Baa's), Dover Ladies and the Folkestone Fillies. The Bra Baa's (led by ex-England Ladies Captain Catherine Spencer) were too strong for their opponents and won each of their games comfortably.
It proved to be an excellent day all round and having proved to be such a success John Kidson is already planning next year’s competition and enlarging it to include overnight camping, music and entertainment.

Organiser John Kidson’s comments:

Last Saturday saw the Spitfire Tournament take place in a new form, switching from a pre-season 15-a-Side to an end of the season festival. A Ladies tournament was introduced to run concurrently.
Three ladies teams entered. Brabarians led by former England captain Catherine Spencer, were far too strong for Folkestone Fillies and Dover Ladies. Although Folkestone and Dover put up plucky resistance they were overwhelmed by a side which had a few Premiership players in its ranks. Shelley Morgan was the best Folkestone player, although for my money Scarlett Millen’s tackling was the big feature.

A similar situation applied to the men’s Tournament and three teams were far stronger than Ashford Barbarians and “Honey Bees”. Ashford, Aylesbury and Folkestone were equally matched. They each scored 9 tries in their opening game. Then Aylesford lost by one try out of seven to Ashford and then by one try out of seven to Folkestone. This meant that the last game between Ashford and Folkestone would decide the winners.

It was a cracking good game, fast, intricate and tough. Folkestone scored the first try and managed to stay one try ahead throughout to win 4 tries to three.

Will Massey and Ben Brooks have come back for Folkestone and played a major part in the Stone’s unbeaten performance. Ben Brooks showed he is still the try scoring machine he was and two tries were superb. The first came from a beautifully weighted kick from John Eustace and the second was a lightning burst through several opponents from a delicate assist room Chris Petley. Another try scorer in his element was Richie Bowen. It is slightly unfair to pick out three players because they all played well and thoroughly deserved the winning trophy.