The Kent Sevens Under 14s Rugby Festival

Folkestone hosted the 2012 Kent Sevens Tournament in fine style with all four pitches in tip-top condition with 20 teams competing.

Folkestone 14 vs. 7 Westcombe Park
Folkestone7 vs. NAG Vigo 28
Folkestone 19 vs. Tonbridge Judds B 19
Folkestone 7 vs. Beccehamians 14

Stone’s first match was an absolute cracker against a big Westcombe Park side who were unprepared for the speed and commitment Stone’s showed in winning the loose ball and defensive tackling.

Sid Gurung opened the scoring with a strong run after good passing through the line. Dougie Wood converted with the goal drop kick.

Westcombe fought back but were unable to break through the defence until the giant ‘Beast’ took a good pass and ran over several Stone’s players to score a memorable converted equaliser.

On another day Folkestone may have taken the equaliser as the beginning of a sound thrashing but, having had the better play throughout, were able to regain the lead through a passage of play that took in most of the team and ended with Dougie Wood scoring and converting to win the match 14-7.

Next up came NAG/Vigo, and with a changed team Stone’s struggled to contain the big runners. Charlie Watson scored with a neat sidestep, with Dougie Wood converting to level the score in the first half. Vigo scored three more tries to take the match 28-7.

The last group stage match saw Stone’s up against Tonbridge Judds and for the second time this year we were treated to a real nail-biter of a match with 3 tries each and one missed conversion apiece. James Evans scored twice, while James Porter was eventually rewarded for all his hard work with a great try, ending the match 19-19.

The knock out stage saw Folkestone up against Beccehamians and once again all the team worked hard for each other and put on some good flowing runs with James Porter eventually scoring for Dougie Wood to convert. Beccs scored twice to win 14-7. Maybe, next season with improved fitness and stamina combined with the undoubted talent throughout the team, Stone’s could be winning many more of these games with ease!