U12s Sharks Land Rover Cup report

Land Rover Cup - MHRUFC Sharks – U12’s 18-11-2018

The format was four pools of four teams with a waterfall process leading
to four further pools of evenly matched teams.

The sharks began their campaign against a spirited St Neots side. Both sides struggled with
some handling errors but the shark’s rugby superiority shone through with a 1-0 victory.
Next up were North Walsham from Norfolk. This proved to be a close game but with fewer
handling errors the sharks eased to a 2-0 victory with a fine try from a set piece.

The final game of the group pool was against Leicester Forest East would prove to be the
decider, with the winner progressing to the top tier of the final rounds. The sharks succumbed
to a very early try scored from the initial kick off. LFE quickly followed it up with another try. A
final try secured the match for LFE. The dispirited boys left the pitch knowing that they had let
slip a match that they were more than capable of winning.

Head coach Adrian delivered a lifting, Churchillian speech before the start of the final group of
games. The boys responded against Ashby RFC with a superb try with the ball being passed at
pace along the attacking line. The final score was 5-0. The Sharks were back to the best with
slick passes, secure hands and great offensive and defensive rucking, but could it last?

The penultimate match of the day was against Tamworth. The game ebbed and flowed with the
sharks just missing out on a couple of try scoring opportunities. Tamworth scored two very late
tries which went unanswered.

The final match was against Kesteven who were an extremely physical team, where sharks
opened the scoring. A second try soon followed from a well worked set piece from a scrum. A
sustained period of attack by Kesteven led to a try but it wasn’t enough to overcome our boys.
In the final reckoning we won four matches and lost two. The event was well run and enjoyed
by the boys. Special thanks to the coaches, and of course to the boys, well done!