Under 10's at Kent Prelims - Blackheath

Under 10’s at Kent Festival Prelims – Blackheath RFC

Folkestone Under 10’s were out in force for the Kent Festival Preliminary Round at Blackheath RFC.

Some late challenges for this seasons Under 10's ‘Shoreham Ball’ resulted in our development cup team being a little low on numbers but our friends at Ashford stepped in to help us out, loaning three very good players who did their club and Folkestone proud. A very big thanks to Curtis, Tom and Zack and their coaches.

Teams were:
Main Draw: Leon Gurr, Lewis Hammerton, Joseph Faiers, TJ Leather, Tom Kedwell, Toby Walton, Archie Green, Tom Reina, Tom Cloke, Tristan Parmenter and Kian Supple.

Development Cup: Ryan Adams, Ethan Murray, Dominic Bowden, Ethan Holt, Jos Marnham, Cameron Brown, Alfie Dove, Ben Povah and our three new friends from Ashford.

Both teams had very tough draws with both playing sides from Aylesford in the first round of matches, the ‘A’s going down 5-1 after a very quick and well taken try from Tom Kedwell made by very good passing from Tom Cloke gave the Stones an early lead.

The Development Cup team lost out 6-1, with the Stones scoring a storming try through Curtis who I don't think we've heard the last of.

The second round of matches pitted the ‘A’s against last years’ runners up Old Alleynians who proved too strong for the Stones in a 4-0 win for OAs.

The Development Cup team put in a fantastic effort against Beckenham ‘B’ in a real end-to-end affair that Beckenham won 5-2 with Stones tries coming from Jos Marnham, who sped through the Beckenham defence and the always hard working Alfie Dove, aided by some great tackling from Ryan Adams and Dominic Bowden.

The Development Cup Team bowed out of the festival after losing their next match to a very strong Old Elthamians ‘B’ side who looked like they were not in need of much development. The Folkestone ‘B’s had worked very hard throughout the festival and used it in the sense that it should be used – to develop. Some great improvements throughout including good driving forward by Ben Povah and determined defensive work by Ethan Holt and Ethan Murray.

A big special mention to player of the day Cameron Brown who captained the team throughout, he put in a determined shift at scrum-half, with very good distribution and played a real captain’s role, leading from the front and helping our friends from Ashford to feel a part of our squad, well done Cameron.

The ‘A’s final group game was against Whitstable and as expected, it was a pretty close affair. Tristan Parmenter scored Stones try in a very close 3-1 loss, Stones were camped out on the Whitstable line throughout the second half but couldn’t make their possession tell, Whitstable defended very well, a little voice in my ear says Whitstable didn’t hold up a near Folkestone try but this was a much improved performance and bode well for the shield play-off.

….Which was against Westcombe Park and Stones improvement continued. Stones took the lead through a great team try finished off with aplomb by Joseph Faiers. Stones then held firm against determined attacking from WP, good tackling by Kian Supple and TJ Leather ensured Stones led 1-0 at h/t. Second Half saw more determined play from WP but Stones were now in their groove and good defensive work from Tom Reina, Archie Green and Lewis Hammerton and hard work by Toby Walton, gaining lots of territory resulted in a second try of the day for Tristan Parmenter to give the Stones a 2-0 cushion. With WP looking like they were about to score and set up a nail biting finish, Leon Gurr made a superb last ditch tackle and the team held out to pave the way to finals day.

Despite all results not going Stones’ way, this was a great day of rugby played with great spirit in glorious sunshine with great support from club, coaches, family and teammates, particularly the injured Cohen Double. All of our boys proved again that they are fine ambassadors for the club and the squad would all like to thank our club for helping with the travel arrangements, it was a great day out and good luck to our boys in the shield at Tonbridge next week.