Year 9 Schools Tournament - Wednesday 16th November

Dunstablians started its Youth Development program at the start of this school year. Anthony Verster was appointed the YDO to deliver this program and he sees it as an immense opportunity to help the local schools with rugby coaching sessions, development and competitions. The priority was to get as many schools available and interested in such a program by delivering coaching during school as well as after school and then secondary to that, organising school tournaments during the school term. This half-term the year 9, 10 and 11 age groups were targeted for coaching and development training before holding their tournaments. This was thoroughly enjoyed by these groups and we will be continuing these sessions up until the Christmas holidays to further their development. After being to most of the local schools I also approached some schools in Luton as well as Leighton Buzzard for the development and it was positively accepted. The organising of the tournament went well, at first we had ten teams entering but due to some schools having to pull out we ended up with seven teams. The tournament was ten-a-side and was based on a round robin format with the top two teams playing in the final. The tournament was supported by the Youth Section at the club for the refereeing and to provide players with a path to the teams being run at Dunstablians RUFC.
The tournament was a tremendous success and from the start every school showed that rugby in south beds schools was alive. Every game was close and with the temperature dropping the player’s commitment stayed positive.
After the round robin stage the winners of the group were Cardinal Newman with Van Dyke taking the other place in the final. The final was the same game that opened the tournament and both teams attacking play was outstanding, only bettered by the brave defences. This was shown by a score line of 0-0 at the end of normal time. This resulted in the final going into extra time and sudden death. After the first period of extra time the teams were still level and in the second period Cardinal Newman showed why they were unbeaten through out the tournament with a well worked winning try to take the tournament.
The man of the tournament was the Cardinal Newman number 9 Kieron McAfferty who was instrumental in their success.

Final

Cardinal Newman 5 v 0 Van Dyke

                   (After extra time)

Year 10 Schools Tournament - Wednesday 23rd November

Following on from last week’s Year 9 tournament we invited the local Year 10 school teams to Dunstablians. We invited all the schools we have been delivering coaching to together with Cedars School. Initially we had 9 teams entered but due to some schools having to pull out we ended up with five teams. The tournament was ten-a-side and was based on a round robin format with the top two teams playing in the final. Again this tournament was supported by the Youth Section at the club for the refereeing and to provide players with a path to the teams being run at Dunstablians RUFC.
The tournament was a success with all teams enjoying the rugby and playing against schools outside their normal pool of fixtures. From the first two rounds of matches there were two teams that were a level above the other teams and they remained unbeaten until the final round of group matches. As the final game of the round robin tournament was between the two unbeaten teams it was decided to make this the final. For the final we extended the playing time too 20 minutes.
Both teams showed a high skill level and desire to win and this was seen in the final score line of 15-10 to Queensbury.

So the winners of the tournament were Queensbury and the man of the tournament went to Sam Coogen.

Final

Queensbury 15 v 10 Cedars

Wed. 30th November - Year 11 Tournament Report

This was Dunstablians Youth Development Scheme’s last schools tournament before Christmas. We invited the local Year 11 school teams who we have been delivering coaching to together with Putteridge and Halyard School. There were a total of six teams entered into the tournament which was ten-a-side and was based on a round robin format with the top two teams playing in the final.
The tournament was a success with all teams enjoying the rugby and playing against schools outside their normal pool of fixtures. All the teams were of a similar standard which made the tournament very competitive with a total of 5 drawn matches.
Putteridge finished the round robin stages unbeaten with 3 wins and two draws and went through to the final. The other birth in the final was going to be taken by either Northfields, Manshead, who were both unbeaten during the tournament, and Halyard. With the final round robin game between Halyard and Manshead it went down to the last game to decide who went through. The game ended in a draw which resulted in Manshead finishing on equal points with Northfields but due to Manshead scoring more tries during the tournament they went through to the final.

Again this was a closely fought contest with Manshead scoring in the first minute. However Putteridge came back strong and scored two tries in quick succession to take the final 10-5.

So the winners of the tournament were Putteridge and the man of the tournament went to Daniel Murphy.

Final

Putteridge 10 v 5 Manshead

From left to right, Anthony Verster YDO, Daniel Murphy Player of the tournament, Paul Jerome Chairman of the mini/youth section

Manshead and Putteridge team photo with trophy

Manshead and Putteridge team photo with trophy