Juniors F&T

RCL’s third international rugby tournament took place over the weekend with 12 clubs from Britain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg taking part. In total 15 teams were entered in the competition with over 250 players participating. This tournament has continued to grow since it was inaugurated by RCL President Dave Evans in 2007 and is now looked upon as a recognised international tournament which is capable of attracting some of the best U13 teams from the countries participating. The ambition of RCL in hosting this tournament is a reflection of the huge development work at junior level that has been put in by the club over the past number of years.

All the preparations were in place when the teams from the Netherlands, Britain and Ireland arrived on Friday evening. Their players then took part in a light training session and familiarised themselves with the pitches before relaxing with a welcome BBQ in the evening sun.

The real action began early on Saturday morning. The 15 teams were organised into 3 groups with the winners of each group and the best runner-up progressing to the semi-finals. The level of rugby on display was superb with Dunstable (UK), RTOC (NL), Boyne (IRL), Henley (UK), Strasbourg (FRA) and HRC (NL) all impressing. Despite the heat and the hard ground, everyone played committed rugby with no tackles being shirked. It was a pity that the late withdrawal of Suttonians meant that a replacement team from Strasbourg were a little weaker than the general standard. Ultimately, however, all teams made a great effort and after 5 bruising and tiring matches the pools stood as follows.

Pool A      P   W   D   L   Points   Trys
Boyne Warriors   4   3   1   0   7   17
RTOC Rugby   4   3   1   0   7   15
Metz       4   2   0   2   4   12
Crowborough   4   0   1   3   1   2
CSCE       4   0   1   3   1   1

Pool B           P   W   D   L   Points   Trys
Dunstable 1       4   4   0   0   8   18
Strasbourg I       4   3   0   1   6   15
Boyne Bulls       4   2   0   2   4   7
Walferdange Renerts    4   0   1   3   1   2
Pink Panthers       4   0   1   3   1   2

Pool C       P   W   D   L   Points   Trys
Henley       4   4   0   0   8   27
HRC       4   3   0   1   6   18
RCL       4   2   0   2   4   9
Dunstable 2   4   1   0   3   2   2
Strasbourg II   4   0   0   4   0   1

After a break for lunch, playoffs for the various places were played off. Once again there were some fantastic contests with Strasbourg overcoming Dutch side HRC to claim 5th place overall. RCL were represented in the 7th/8th place playoff against Metz. In the spirit of sportsmanship that is typical of rugby, the RCL coaches decided to play all their players, completely changing their team at half-time so that each one could play. Unfortunately they were not strong enough against a skilful Metz side who claimed 7th position. Despite this, it was a really positive experience for the RCL boys who accounted well for themselves in their pool matches and who were one of the few teams to offer any substantial resistance to the eventual winners. In the other play-off matches, Boyne Bulls got the better of Dunstable 2nds while the CSCE V. Walferdange match was abandoned after a serious injury to one of the CSCE players – as a result both shared 11th place. In the final playoff match Crowborough held off the challenge of the wonderfully named Pink Panthers from the Netherlands.

The semi-finals of the tournament were gripping affairs with Henley edging past Boyne Warriors in a tight match while the RCL tournament can claim something of a first for rugby. In something of a preview of the Heineken Cup semi-final between Cardiff and Leicester, drop-kicks were needed to decide the result after Dunstable 1 and HTOC played out a very entertaining draw, with the Dutch HTOC being unlucky to lose out.

So finally, after 31 matches, Henley and Dunstable 1 faced each other in the final. It was an excellent advertisement for underage rugby with both sides fighting for every ball. Henley did most of the pressing but were held out by ferocious Dunstable defending. A scoreless first half was followed by an equally intense 2nd half which Henley managed to edge, taking a 1-0 lead into the last few minutes. Despite the efforts of Dunstable, the win with a last minute Henley try to leave them victors 2 – 0.

The final order was as follows
1   Henley   UK
2   Dunstable 1   UK
3   RTOC   NL
3   Boyne Warriors   IRL
5   Racing Club Strasbourg   FRA
6   HRC   NL
7   Metz   FRA
8   RCL   LUX
9   Boyne Bulls   IRL
10   Dunstable 2   UK
11   CSCE    LUX
11   Walferdange Renerts   LUX
13   Crowborough   UK
14   Pink Panthers   NL
15   Strasbourg 2   FRA

After the final, the presentations were made to the respective teams with the tournament fair-play award going to HRC. Each player received medals and commemorative t-shirts while the winners got to take away the cup. Once the formalities were over, the adults were able to relax and watch the Heineken Cup semi-final between Munster and Leinster while enjoying some of the refreshments which had been available all day.

Obviously with a tournament of this size the planning and organisation, as well as the finances involved required a huge amount of time and efforts. Our thanks go to all those involved and to J. P. Morgan, our main sponsor whose help has been invaluable over the past number of years. The refereeing was of a consistently high standard, with a pool of referees (Jean-Jacques, Ian, Martin and Justin) used for the occasion so that they could last through the day. Another person whose contribution cannot be underestimated in such a physical game was Martial Martin who provided rapid medical intervention for anyone who picked up a knock on the day. It is the strong belief of RCL that the development of rugby in Luxembourg is going from strength to strength with increasing numbers of players from all nationalities (not just expats) being represented on RCL teams. This, combined with the work of CSCE and Walferdange Renerts bodes well for the game in Luxembourg.