UNDER 15s FESTIVAL
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BACKGROUND
This Festival was first held in September 1998 and was intended to be a friendly early season tournament allowing players to have some match practice in a relaxed atmosphere. It was played with teams of 10 allowing clubs with smaller squads to take part, and an U17s Festival was held concurrently.

In 2000/01 the Festival changed to 15-a-side, with the competition winners being presented with the Hospital Trophy.  

2005 FESTIVAL - 1 MAY
Colchester Rugby Club was proud to host its annual Under 15 Festival on Sunday, 1^st May 2005. Local clubs from Eastern Counties and Essex were joined by Ampthill and Luton from Bedfordshire, Dorking who had travelled around the M25 from Surrey, Fenland Barbarians who had left South Lincolnshire at 6.00 a.m. and Sheffield from Yorkshire and Westcombe Park from Kent who were both on tour.  

The weather was very hot and sunny, punctuated by a couple of very short refreshing showers, and groundsman, ‘Mac’ McGenn had, as usual, prepared the pitches to his very high standards. 

The 16 clubs were initially divided into 2 conferences and all clubs played 4 others in 7 minute each way games. 10 points were awarded for a win, 5 points for a draw and 1 point was earned for each try scored. The competition was hard, and all games were close and of the highest standard.  

In the ‘Gold’ conference, Shelford set the standard with hard fought victories over Romford, Sheffield, Luton and Woodford. However, Luton also played well with wins over Woodford, Harlow and Romford. A game Sheffield squad held their own, whilst home club, Colchester were able to defeat Harlow by 5-0 and Sheffield by 7-0, but lost to Woodford 5-7 by a single conversion, and drew 0-0 with Norwich. Woodford also claimed 2 victories over Colchester and Harlow.

table after 4 rounds :-

                                                win      draw    tries points     position
Colchester                               2          1          3        28          3^rd
Harlow                                      0          0          0          0          8^th
Woodford                                 2          0          3        23          4^th
Luton                                        3          0          2        32          2^nd
Shelford                                    4          0          8        48          1^st
Romford                                   1          0          0        10          7^th
Sheffield                                   2          0          3        23          5^th
Norwich                                    1          1          3        18          6^th 

In the ‘Silver’ conference, Dorking made the pace with victories over Amthill, Chelmsford, Braintree and Ipswich. Bury St. Edmunds also looked good, beating Chelmsford, Ampthill and Fenland Barbarians, before losing to Westcombe Park. Fenland Barbarians were also powerful, drawing with Westcome Park, but defeating Ipswich and Chelmsford. Braintree also claimed 2 victories, over Ipswich and Westcombe Park, and a draw with Ampthill.    

 
table after 4 rounds :-

                                                win      draw    tries points     position
Bury St. Edmunds                   3          0          2        32          2^nd
Chelmsford                              0          1          0          5          8^th
Ampthill                                    0          2          0        10          6^th
Dorking                                    4          0          6        46          1^st
Braintree                                  2          1          3        28          3^rd
Ipswich                                     0          1          2          7          7^th
Westcombe Park                    1          2          2        22          5^th
Fenland Barbarians                 2          1          1        26          4^th

In the Bowl competition, for sides in 7^th and 8^th places, Chelmsford beat Romford 7-5 in the semis to meet Ipswich, who had beaten Harlow by 14-7. In the final, both sides scored a solitary try to share the Bowl 5-5. 

In the Shield competition, for sides in 5^th and 6^th places, Sheffield beat Ampthill 3-0, and Wesctombe Park overcame Norwich 12-7. In the final, Sheffield were victorious by 5-0, taking the Shield back to Yorkshire. 

In the Plate competition for sides in 3^rd and 4^th places, Colchester met Fenland Barbarians, but lost by 3-0, and Braintree defeated Woodford 10-0. In the final, neither Braintree nor Fenland Barbarians were able to trouble the scorers, and also shared the spoils. 

In the Trophy, Shelford and Bury met, and although they conceded their first points of the day, Shelford narrowly won by 5-3 to take their place in the final. In the other semi, Dorking defeated Luton by 17-0, to reach the final without conceding any points. The final was contested by clearly the best 2 sides in the competition. In front of a huge crowd, both sides played well, but Dorking scored a try and a penalty, to win by 8-0. Roy Holloway, President of Eastern Counties presented the Hospital Trophy to Dorking skipper James Catton. 

The whole tournament was played in a fantastic, friendly and sporting spirit by all participating clubs, with positive coaching, and with no untoward incidents, one of the most enjoyable days of the season at Colchester Rugby Club. Nearly 350 boys took part in the festival. Thanks must go to London Society Referees, Ross Cowie, Andrew Docherty, Martin Goodman, Andrew Beckett, Alexis Manley and Lee Tanner, and Ron West of the Suffolk Society. Thanks must also go to Physiotherapist, Ian Succamore, who tended to (thankfully few) injuries during the Festival.

Cup Winners: Dorking Runners Up: Shelford
Plate: Shared by Fenland Barbarians and Braintree
Shield Winners: Sheffield Runners Up: Westcombe Park
Bowl: Shared by Chelmsford and Ipswich

Were you at the Festival?  Go to our Guest Book and record your views on the day.

Participating Clubs:

2006 FESTIVAL
The date of the 2006 Festival is Sunday 30 April.  Any interested clubs should e-mail the organiser in the first instance.  

PREVIOUS WINNERS

15 May 2005