Mistley Youth section had a fantastic time last weekend on our, now traditional, Easter Tour in North Norfolk culminating in the Holt Festival.
This is the third year we have taken youth teams on the Easter Tour and 2024 was our biggest as we took squads from the U8, U9, U10 and U11s.
Friday night at the campfire (with plenty of songs, hot chocolate and smores) was followed on the Saturday with activities ranging from High Ropes, Orienteering, Quidditch and Mini-Olympics.
They are always brilliant weekends and great team building experiences. This year was no different and it was really rewarding to see how much the kids bonded over the weekends activities and how that then carried over to the rugby at Sunday’s tournament.
The standard of rugby at Holt is always extremely high with 130 teams from 24 clubs across 13 counties taking part across two weekends. As usual our proud village club was probably the smallest there… as usual we punched well above our weight.
U11’s – Definitely had the hardest task of the day as injuries both before and during the festival meant they had no subs, whilst playing against big squads who could rest and rotate players. Nevertheless they played some amazing rugby, running Chelmsford and West Norfolk very close. Regardless of the lack of numb ers they all showed great heart which culminated in an amazing 3-2 victory over the hosts Holt RFC. A brilliant result that left Coach Steve Huntingford incredibly proud of all the lads.
U10’s – Also had to contend with a small squad but played their best rugby of the season. The defence was a real highlight stopping any side when it tried to play. Hard rucking against some tough and well drilled opponent’s marked out all the games. Like the U11’s the U10’s put together their best play against the hosts with a hard fought 3-2 victory. The highlight had to be a breath-taking team try in which every Mistley player carried the ball, which drew applause from the crowd of opposition supporters and comments from coaches on a well scored try.
U9’s – Had an incredible day. The first two matches were hard fought draws in which, against Chelmsford in particular, Mistley were unlucky not to get the win as they played all the rugby in the opposition half. The team then got into their stride with two dominant wins against Maldon and Westcliff. This left a final match with the only other unbeaten side – Holt RFC. A thrilling game saw the U9’s smothering defence push the hosts back and then play their best running rugby to secure the amazing victory and top the group with a 5-3 win.
U8’s – Outstanding play from the whole team especially as five of the squad were playing up from the U7’s. The passing and speed of the U8’s team was a real stand out and drove them on to an incredible record of 2 wins and 2 draws. In their final game vs. Wymondham Reds, a 4-4 draw, our mini marauders won four possession turnovers in ten minutes earning praise from the referee as the “the best he had ever seen”.
