Tigers DID win at Twickenham !

Whilst Leicester Tigers were outplayed by Wasps in a thrilling Guinness Premiership Final at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon, Derby U9's (also known as the Tigers) won the Bowl Competition of the Gulliver's Rugby Tournament played on the same pitch in the morning. They got there by winning a qualifying tournament in Nottingham over a freezing Easter weekend so players and supporters alike were relieved to see the sun shining on Saturday.

The opposition were Braintree U9's from Essex and in a tight game Derby relied on strong defence by all to contain several dangerous runs. The strength of the tackling turned defence into attack with Cameron Dale and Will Player prominent in the tackle count and David Tougher managing to secure enough loose ball to allow incisive runs from Richard Smith and Tom Fish. Despite pressure throughout from Braintree, the Derby players had the confidence to keep passing the ball with Jacob Taylor threatening to break clear on several occasions only for last ditch tackles from Braintree to pull him back. But with 2 minutes to go the decisive break was made by Joe Hey who sprinted 25m to score the only try of the match.

While the whole squad played well there must be a special mention for two players. Megan, who played in all the qualifying games, was too ill to make the trip to Twickenham and Henry Murray had to step in at fly half that morning and did a great job. If he was nervous, it didn't show. The players and coaches hope the result cheered Megan up and that she is feeling better soon. The win was a just reward for the hard work put in by the players in a challenging season where they have been introduced to scrummaging, line-outs, rucks, mauls and tackling.

The successful squad were: Tom Howarth (Capt), Matthew Alton, Joel Bryson, Cameron Dale, Tom Fish, Joe Hey, Henry Murray, Will Player, Ollie Rudd, Richard Smith, Jacob Taylor and David Tougher.