Keynsham host Festival

More than 200 players and hundreds of spectators enjoyed a highstandard of rugby as Keynsham RFC hosted this year's Under 11's AllSomerset Rugby Festival on Sunday.

With parallel championships for all other mini-rugby age groupsfrom under 7 to under 12 held at other rugby clubs around thecounty, 12 teams competed in the championships at the Crown Fields -Keynsham, North Petherton, Winscombe, Taunton, Walcot, Hornets,Cheddar, Yatton, Chew Valley, Wells, Nailsea & Backwell and Hornets.

The championship were the original brain-child of Simon Smith,from Wells RFC, who initiated the first under 11 championship afterwhich all the other age groups followed.

This year the under 11 festival was organised by Keynsham under11 coach Andy Davies and Ian Hillier, Keynsham Minis chairman.

With three pools of four teams, the winners and highest runner-up progressed to the semis, with the losers competing in the Platefinal and the winners qualifying for the Cup final.

It was a successful weekend for the hosts, as they lost out 10-0to Winscombe after a tremendous effort in the final after beatingCheddar in the semi-finals.

The Plate final, meanwhile, was contested by Cheddar and Hornets.

Despite worries the event would have to be cancelled due to windand rain the previous day, the sun did not stop shining on Sundayand the standard of rugby throughout the competition was very highconsidering the slippery conditions.

A couple of the pitches were unplayable, but games were switchedto other pitches on the Crown Fields which were in much bettercondition.

"The championship was a huge success with all teams playing rugbyin the true spirit of the game," said organiser Davies.

"Many thanks goes to all of the hard-working volunteers whohelped make the event a great day.

"Special thanks goes to the Society Referees who gave up theirday supporting the festival and who helped create a moreprofessional feel and consistent approach."

Keynsham started their bid for the final with a clash with Yattonin their first pool game.

After falling 5-0 behind early on, they dominated the second halfand were rewarded with two tries by Billy Hooper and Frank Spitzerfor a final result of 10-5.

In the second match against North Petherton, Chris Harris wasunfortunate not to open his account having attempted to catch a lowpass with the initial phase started from a catch and drive by MattKing.

Keynsham's hard work was rewarded when the ball was sublimelypassed through the hands of Moody, Spitzer and Davies, who supplieda final ball to winger Kyle Newman to squeeze over in the corner.

Against Wells, Keynsham sailed to a 10-0 lead at the break afterfine play from Cameron Graham, who set a ball from a ruck to allowquick ball from Toby Williams to supply Hooper with his try chance.

Williams then followed his earlier good work with a jinking,mazy run as he danced through the Wells defence to swallow diveover the line.

Wells scored a try of their own but Keynsham held on to win 10-5.

In confident mood for the semi-final against Cheddar, Keynsham'sHooper scored the opening try, but Cheddar equalised.

Keynsham responded and went on to play with a combined work ethicof fortitude and solidarity to show that they could raise their gameto the next level and duly ran in two more second-half tries byNewman and Joe Davies to secure themselves a cup final place with a15-5 victory.

In an enthralling final showpiece, Winscombe took an early leadwhen the hosts were caught slightly napping from a quick tappedpenalty deep in Keynsham territory.

Midway through the second period, Winscombe extended the lead to10-0 when they broke from the base of a five-yard scrum.

Keynsham gained a second wind and were camped on the Winscombeline for the rest of the game to dominate the final proceedings,but, despite showing great commitment and resolve, they had tosettle for the runners-up spot.

Keynsham also had successes throughout the other age groups,either winning the finals or finishing as runners-up.

Winners of all the All Somerset Rugby Festivals were:

Under 7: Winscombe (Keynsham runners up)

Under 8: Taunton

Under 9: Keynsham

Under 10: Keynsham

Under 11: Winscombe (Keynsham runners up)

Under 12: Keynsham