Twickenham Finals Day 2009

Twickenham Finals Day 2009
16 May

It was another hugely successful finals day for Gullivers at England Rugby's HQ. Whilst the day acted as a curtain raiser for the Guinness Premiership Final later that afternoon, some among the large Gullivers contingent in the south stand suggested that there was more rugby on display in our mini and junior games than that served up in the Leicester v London Irish main event.

That is not to belittle the main event of course but merely an appreciation of some fantastic rugby that was played across the age groups throughout the day. Tight, entertaining and often no holds barred matches, one after the other brought the estimated 5,000 mini and junior supporters to their feet continuously. The supporters played their part in creating a great atmosphere in this vast arena and the players on the pitch revelled in the noise to show their thanks by churning out some high quality action.

A mere glance at the results will tell its own story. Six of the 14 finals that were played resulted in stalemate - the trophy shared. There were very few matches with a greater winning margin of two tries, proof that every year the standard gets better and better.

Under 9s
In the U9 age group the semi-finals suggested that Brighton were the team to beat as they produced the biggest win of the day to beat a very good Macclesfield team 5-0. York, their eventual opponents in the final, were held to a draw by Sandal but were pushed hard as Sandal knew that after qualification at Nottingham, a draw was not enough. And so it proved. The final was a different challenge for Brighton as York proved worthy opponents, with the game ending in a 0-0 draw. Topsham proved to be worthy winners in the bowl competition defeating Ashby 4-0 and the plate competition was another draw between Amersham & Chiltern and Teddington finishing 1-1.

Under 10s
Sandal took the honours in the U10 cup competition beating Amersham & Chiltern with the only score in the game. Both had progressed to the final at the expense of Ashby (2-0) and Teddington (1-0) respectively. In the plate, Selby were victorious, narrowly defeating Upminster 1-0 whilst the bowl competition produced a scoreless match between Otley and the ever present Northampton Old Scouts.

Under 11s
The U11 cup was taken by a very strong Ampthill side that battled to a 1-0 victory over a useful Banbury team in the semi-final. Nottingham came through their semi-final with Richmond but had to rely on their performance at the qualifiers to do so as a 0-0 draw was enough to see them through. The final was a great tussle with Ampthill running out eventual winners by 2-0. Macclesfield made up for the disappointment in the U9 age group by taking the plate back to Cheshire, defeating Teddington 2-0 in the plate final. Maintaining the tradition of drawn finals were Salisbury and Old Northamptonians, who drew 1-1 in the bowl final.

Under 12s
The U12s had a Twickenham Finals Day first – an all Welsh Final as near neighbours Rhiwbina and Llandaff battled out the Plate final very oddly at the home of English rugby. Rhiwbina took the trophy back across the Severn Bridge to Cardiff in a very narrow game winning 1-0. The cup semi finals were equally keenly fought affairs. Barnstaple was unlucky to go out to Ripon based on the results from the qualifiers after a 1-1 draw at HQ. Lymm also scraped a 1-0 victory over a strong Wimborne team. Odds were stacked in favour of a tight final and so it delivered with Lymm edging their northern rivals from Ripon by the odd score to take the trophy. Business as usual was resumed in the Bowl final as another draw was played out between Buckingham and Upminster (0-0).

Under 13s
The return to the full size pitch brought the first drop of rain of the day. It did little to dampen the action as Brighton and Salisbury served up an end to end affair in the U13 cup final. Despite some extended periods of attacking play, only two tries were mustered and both were very well taken. The wide open spaces of the Twickenham pitch did little to open up defences any further and yield that crucial score. Consequently the trophy was shared and both sides could have little complaint at the end.

The final match of the day was an Anglo Welsh affair between Props from Bristol and Cowbridge from Wales. Both emerged unbeaten from the qualifiers at Nottingham and both arrived at Twickenham sporting a fair degree of pink in their strip. That was where any charitable gestures ended and both teams set out with real intent but were met with equal desire in defence, cancelling each other out and producing a scoreless first period. As the clock began to count down, with the game heading towards a scoreless conclusion, Props managed to secure some quick ball and craft a score that would devastate the stretched Cowbridge defence. The conversion that followed mattered only to hammer home the significance of the try. Props took the trophy back down the M4 and brought the curtain down on the curtain raiser.

Overall the day at Twickenham produced some great rugby, was superbly refereed and greatly appreciated by the vociferous 5,000 plus crowd. All the teams can be really proud of their efforts at both Nottingham and Twickenham. It is not always easy to raise the standard of the competition every year but that was safely accomplished and the 2009 Finals Day will be remembered as the best yet.

Ricky Davies, Festivals Manager
Gullivers Sports Travel