Group Winners and Festival Runners Up

Day 2 of the festival dawned with more blue skies, still cold, but this time windier so the kicking game would come into play. Players turned up feeling worse for wear from the night before. The "Merry Wives of Windsor" rolled in, led by their “Tempest” Tori – also suffering from the night before. Would their energy levels increase or would this be the dreaded 2nd day of the festival and a lacklustre performance? More "hubble bubble toil and trouble", from the players or would the referring standard drop and we would hope that "the coach doth NOT protest too much, methinks".
Would the day be a “Comedy of Errors” or "Much Ado About Nothing" ?

First decision of the day was scrum half role. "O Ryan, Ryan! wherefore art thou Ryan?".

Ryan had gone home so who would play scrum half alongside Hilly? Geoff threw his hat into the ring with an intensive passing session, trying to recreate famous rugby moves of the 70’s and 80’s but as each pass was about 20 yards off target the coaches decided to stick with Hilly as our one and only option and prey he didn’t get injured.

Due to only 6 teams in the festival it was a re-run of the schedule the day before so a chance for teams to get revenge on Stroud. Top 2 go through to the final. Could Stroud keep focused or would Dorking and Topsham take the glory?

More importantly how many more Shakespeare references could we fit into the reports?

Game 6 Stroud vs Dorking Cockerels

Match Reporter: Pete T

Forwards : Will T, Stoner, Orgy, Arthur, Laurie
Backs : Dave, Will, Keyan, Alex, Fin, Hilly , Joe

Another sun kissed but breezy morning greeted the boys for their first match of the second day. Dorking Cockerels were their first foe for the day, whom they narrowly beat yesterday 1-0. Unfortunately, although entirely as expected, the boys, dads, mums and especially Tori all looked a little over entertained from the night before....which I thought in Tori’s case was alcohol related but surprisingly turned out to be calf injuries! No one knew which way this game would go.

It turns out that Stroud, with the kick off,, open up a completely manic exchange of hi octane rugby. Early on Strond hold them in their own half with an exchange of tough defensive tackles. Knock on's are exchanged and so too is tackling out of touch...great pressure from Stroud to keep them on their heels. Then, in the middle of the pack we see their game plan....huge hit on Keyan.... from their buffalo sized forward. They were clearly hell bent on singling out our star player from yesterday. The tactic worked. Twice he was hit both times spilling the ball under a barrage of pressure from Dorking. We get the ball back after a rare turn over and Keyan breaks free, but as if fueled by too much candy from the night before their big man chases him down and fells him just short of the line spilling the ball to hand them the play.

Huge kick from them sends the ball all the way back to our 10yrd line relieving all that pressure..frustrating given the whole of the match had been spent in their half. We get a poor call against us, another one, for a knock on. Scrum down to them but we come away with the ball. Keyan breaks away and yet again a huge hit on him carries him back 5 yards....big 'oooh' from the crowd and big boost for Dorking. Attack by them goes out to left wing quickly with them at full pace, but a great double covering tackle by Fin and Dave forces them out.

We get the ball and with a set pass to Stoner he's off on a great run knocking through 1,2,3,4 tackles as the bigger guys keep their eye on a ball to Keyan which never comes. Quick recycle and the ball is worked across our line all the way out to Joe who in the corner is his held up as the ball spills just on the line. Frustrating stuff but breathtaking to watch! But wait....its not held up....after much confusion by the ref and a series of bad calls against us, one goes in our favour...The try is given!!! 1-0. Wow...we'll take that all the same.

Game plays on and after another big kick to them we pick up a bad knock on after receiving the ball deep on our line. Pressure straight back on us. Great defensive tackles are going in everywhere on the restart in a frantic defensive stand. Strong work from Dorking earns them a scrum as the pressure builds. From the set piece they break right and make it over the line in a confusion bodies everywhere...Try!...in the last seconds as well. Was that really 10 mins...some say 12. either way its 1-1 called and the final whistle is blown.

What a mad start......Dorking are delighted and Stroud a little shell shocked. Tough Tough match and they had planned well to take on our attacking play maker. Can Stroud recover ....4 games to show it?????

Final Score 1-1

Game 7 Stroud vs Dorking Roosters

Match Reporter: Geoff H

I am the little red rooster

Stroud team: Stoner, Jedd, Orgy, Callum, Arthur, Riley, Edgar, Keyan, Dave, Will H, Hilly, Lewis

Stroud came into this game off the back of an almost unprecedented poor run of results, starting with defeat to Topsham the previous evening, followed by a draw against the Cockerels. Could the yogurt-knitters restore their karma? Or would the boys from the stockbroker belt get a return on their investment?

The roosters seemed pretty fired up on Sunday morning. Possibly they’d discovered a drop in their investments while perusing the Financial Times over breakfast. Whatever, the bowler hats were off and they meant business.

Stroud kicked off (uphill of course). Lewis ran it back at them, causing a minor sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. It was taken on by Keyan and Stoner, but eventually the ball was coughed up and the rooster-men got the put in to a scrum on their 22. Orgy’s magic prehensile leg™ won his 8,456th scrum against the head of the season, and Will made a break almost to the line. Again the roosters mysteriously won the scrum put-in, and this time they cleared their lines. Dave collected and put in one of those slightly half-hearted meandering runs blistering upfield charges that he does so often, until bundled into touch on half way. Following a bit of messy play, Dorking won a mystery penalty at a ruck (there’s a theme emerging here); more faffing led to another Dorking penalty, but the resulting move was abruptly halted by a superb Edgar tackle. Yet another Dorking penalty (my notes are unrepeatable here), but they soon knocked on, Dave snaffled the loose ball, and ran from his own 22 to score. Vegetable Rights and Peace 1 – 0 Merciless Capitalist Machine.

From the kick-off, Roosters ran back hard, until a huge Hilly tackle brought their big lad to a juddering halt. From the resulting Stroud scrum, the ball was spun out wide right. Riley made great ground until scragged by a high tackle. Delia was by now on a rehydration drip in A&E, having covered 46 miles on Saturday, so he bravely picked himself up and carried on. More messy play from the penalty led to a Roosters scrum. You know what happened next.... whistle, play on...Gross injustice 1 – 1 Heroic Gloucestershire Underdogs.

Insult was added to injury when Stroud were penalised for a high tackle, and Dorking ran through the phases to score in the right corner, despite some great tackling by Edgar, Dave, Orgy and Lewis that almost kept them at bay. Juggernaut of Industrial Destruction 2 – 1 Rural Idyll.

Stroud came back at the Roosters in a tremendous final effort. Dorking defended as if their property portfolios depended on it. As the seconds ticked away, The Roosters desperately kicked clear, but out of the dead ball area, so Stroud were awarded a scrum back. Dead centre, 15 metres from the line. It was the last play of the game. The Stroud backs split. Orgy was poised. Hilly fed it in to the second row. The ball came back our side and was promptly grabbed by the Roosters scrum-half from a position that looked so far offside he could have been in Devon when he picked the ball up. The referee blew for...full-time.

It had been another great effort from the boys, but after this narrow defeat it began to look as if our dream of a place in the final was in jeopardy. How could we possibly come back from such a disappointing start to Sunday? We now needed to win three in a row – including toppling the might Topsham – to have a sniff.

The boys were down. They needed inspiration from somewhere. Prof Samak got the boys into a huddle, and, recalling the inspiring words of Lemmy, told them that “You win some, lose some, it’s all the same to me, The pleasure is to play”. Stoner added “We can beat them, just for one day. We can be heroes, just for one day”. Will H then roused his team-mates with the immortal words “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother”. The rest is history.

Final Score 2-1 to Dorking

Game 8 Stroud vs Horsham

Match Reporter: Jonathan E

Dog Day Afternoon!

Skittish clouds and sunny periods reflected the exciting position our gallant lads found themselves in at 12.15pm. The Roosters of Dorking were hopefully only a ʻtiny chicken bone in the throatʼ to be coughed out as we tried to retain our position at the top end of the table.

Stroud had the kickoff, but something was amiss. The ref had decamped from Crufts and had one of those whistles too high for human ears, but excellent for controlling packs of unruly animals. At last! there would be extraordinary discipline on both sides! Minutes passed, the man reappeared realising rugby was the name of the game here, and his new blower definitely made the right noise.

The County Plate Winners now needed to re-focus, but ooh, whatʼs this? – a whistle sound indicated we had begun. The Horsham boys showed intent from the off - they werenʼt going to be beaten a second time by these West Country yoghurt knitters. The ball was ʻwhippetʼ out to their backs but the blue and white dog pack showed discipline and applied immediate pressure with claws out and tails wagging. Horsham knocked-on and the subsequent scrum gave Stroud useful ball via a ʻRottweilerʼ called Dave before the break down. A ruck manoeuvre was successful, and ʻgreat daneʼ Jedd used significant doggy charm to gain impressive yardage before offloading to specialist ʻretrieverʼ Will H. Another knock-on resulted due to indiscipline in the pack and not enough dog biscuits and petting beforehand. A scrum on the Horsham line lead to the opposition kicking straight into the capable paws of kennel club favourite Alex, who offloaded to the ʻjack russellʼ Hilly - what a marvel! Through the opposition he darted and weaved to plant the ball over the line - much patting and licking ensued!
Score 1 – 0

Horsham were quickly in restart position. Shiny-coat merchant Will H. kicked off and once again the pups in green & black flicked the ball along their back line but were stopped in their tracks by a punishing canine tackle from Dave the ʻRottweilerʼ. Fin, a long haired ʻafghan houndʼ, retrieved the ball and made valuable territory, marking it as he went along. A minuscule knock-on gave Horsham the scrum.

It had turned into ʻdog day afternoonʼ as Stroudʼs defensive pressure, especially dogged by the juvenile Stoner heroically wrapping his sharp paws around the Horsham disarray, resulted in a... turnover and have your tummy tickled! ʻJack russellʼ Hilly refused to lie down, but the penalty was awarded to the other side and they sent it deep into touch.

From there the restart gave Horsham an opportunity, but the ball went to ground to be scooped up by another ʻretrieverʼ Will T who offloaded nicely to ʻRottweilerʼ Dave and on to ʻafghan houndʼ Fin to gain further yardage.

The Stroud kennel was now on the front paw but they lost out in the fray, and Horshamʼs kick was nicely caught by ʻgreyhoundʼ speed machine Alex. A maul developed and ʻpedigree chumʼ Arthur ripped the ball, quickly spinning it out to the ʻRottweilerʼ Dave who powered through for a try. More petting and grooming ensued!
Score 2 – 0

The last kickoff of the match sees Stroud brimming with confidence. Relentless defence and tackling by ʻpedigree chumʼ Arthur and the ʻRottweilerʼ see the Horsham boys bundled into touch on the Stroud line for a Final Score of 2 -0.

It was a dogged performance to send our pups into the next game with tails held high!

Game 9 Stroud vs Haslemere.

Match Reporter: Chris H

‘Raging Bull returns’

Forwards: Laurie, Edgar, Tom O, Stoner, Keyan, Callum
Backs: Riley, Will H, Tom, Joe, Archie, Dave, Hilly

The sun was shining on a windswept Weymouth pitch and a desire building to beat a Haslemere team, on the back of a Horsham win and I thought of a Beetles song ‘here comes the sun’ (I remembered that one). Dave received their kick off with a strong wind (following curry from the night before no doubt) and quickly sped a pass out to Tom, who subsequently passed on to Keyan who took the ball into a ruck. Dave got the ball back and then surged forward but they then got the ball but made multiple handling errors only for Stroud to be awarded the penalty. Stoner received their reception pass and went on the rampage trying to emulate Keyan. We lost the ball in the tackle and they ran away to score first, 1-0 to them (*rse!).

With a desire to rectify the situation, Will H kicked off and our boys applied good pressure with the follow up. Laurie won the ensuing ruck and sped the ball along the line to Dave, Hilly and Riley. We lost the ball in the tackle only for Riley to put in a tackle and win back for us before Callum got injured and was replaced by Jordon. They won the ruck and a scrum ensued for a handling error. Riley came on for Alex and another scrum was awarded to us which we won. Swift handling from Tom, Joe, Edgar and then out to Keyan as ‘the bull’ went on a rampaging run again to touch down making it 1-1 with a great try.

Dave caught the restart, quickly running to the halfway line before the ball was lost in the tackle. They attacked up the left touch line and despite good tackles from Stoner and Tom O they got close to the line before being bundled into touch. Will received the pass and kicked down field, they came back at us charging down the narrow channel. Edgar tackled and the ball was collected by Laurie with great support from Stoner. Another ruck ensued with Will recycling. The ball was fed to Keyan as he embarked on another rampaging run (was it actually Rambo in disguise?), with time running out he dived over for another no nonsense try making it 2-1 to Stroud. Final whistle and a win! An impromptu version of ‘I’ve got a feeling’ by The Black Eyed Peas followed (by me at least!).

Final score 2-1 to Stroud

Game 10 Stroud vs Topsham

Match Reporter: Russell

Winner Takes All

The "Two Gentlemen of Verona" chose their team under the watchful eye of Hamlet, sorry Hammo Senior.

Starting Forwards: Orgy, Stoner, Mr T, Keyan, Jedd
Starting Backs: Hilly, Will, Dave, Arthur, Joe, Lewis, Alex

Russell gave up the Go-Pro and resorted to pen and paper. Much easier doing video recording than scribbling notes. Could Stroud exact revenge on Topsham for losing yesterday and force their way into the final? It was setup to be an epic encounter.

Stroud kicked off and Topsham ran back but a big tackle forced a turnover that Stroud recycled through the backs to Dash on the left wing who made good progress up the touchline. Stroud won the ruck and attacked to the right this time with good interplay between Dave and Arthur threatening the line. Topsham were stout in defence though and forced their own turnover and showed positive intent by attacking from deep. This was nearly their undoing though because Will intercepted a pass and then Jedd took on the attack. A good forward effort pushed him over the try line but he was somehow held up and no try was awarded.

Stroud won the scrum on 5 yard line and attacked right. Another ruck and another determined clearout by Mr T and Laurie. Another attack but slowed down and a scrum awarded to Topsham. Showing their determination though with bendy legged Orgy winning the hook against the head – no mean achievement given the rugby league style feeds we were seeing from all teams! Stroud attacked left but Dave knocked on. Topsham won their scrum and did their own backs move but Joe put in a great tackle and forced a turnover that gave Stroud the chance to attack left with Dave and Lewis. A ruck formed and the ball came out quickly and Dave cut through a gap to score the first try but it was called back for a knock-on.

Topsham won their scrum and attacked to the left through their tricky backline. Dave was upto the task though and forced a turnover in the ruck screaming his battle cry of "to ruck, or not to ruck, that is the question". His reward for his English Literature revision was a head injury though so he had to get subbed off along with Mr T and Jedd. Fin, Jordan and Callum came on as able subs.

Stroud had a scrum that they won and Hilly quickly got the ball out to Will and Arthur who ran left. Arthur straightened his line and a well positioned Stoner took on the attack back to the right. Topshams defense was immense though and they slowed down Stroud and won the resulting ruck. Topsham then showed their attacking prowess and pressured Stroud but Dash snuffed out the attack with his own big tackle. Stroud won the ruck and Topsham were penalised. Keyan took tap penalty to the right. He off loaded to Fin who ran down the wing but was forced out of play just short of the try line.

Callum was unfortunate to be subbed with an injury – Laurie coming on to inject some more energy. Topsham took the pass restart and kicked long to relieve the pressure. Dash fielded the ball and ran it back well. Stoner took on the attack with a typical barrelling run. Ruck formed and Laurie made his mark on the game and a Topsham player with a great clear out. Stroud attacked left with Joe and then Alex. Topsham were penalised and Stroud took a quick tap and go and another high tackle gave them another penalty. This time Keyan took the ball on and ran to the left. Desperate Topsham tackles just came up short and Keyan managed to squeeze into the left corner and score the only try of the game on the final play. The parents and players went mental - "A try! a try! my kingdom for a try!" was the shout from the educated bunch from Stroud…..

Topsham bodies were strewn across the pitch. They had been so resolute in defence and come up just short and received a few more injuries to boot. Hopefully the kids recover quickly – we know Delia has kept in touch with them to see if all OK.

1-0 to Stroud and revenge over Topsham. Would it be enough to get into the final?

Their match report …..

It may sound like things had been easy so far….that was not the case. EVERY game had been hard fought and this had taken its toll. With tired bodies and a rising injury toll (and a queue of Topsham players at Dorchester hospital) we now had our last pool game – Stroud.

What a tense game, both teams attacked with skill and pace, both teams defended with passion and it was 0-0 all the way through. Our lads threw themselves at everything that moved but tired legs and an ever increasing list of injuries meant that defensive numbers just came up short in the dying seconds of the match allowing Stroud’s star Keyan to crash over (injuring at least one of our remaining players in the process – perfectly legitimately) for a match winning try!
------------------------------

At this stage we weren’t sure if we’d qualified for the final. We consulted legal guru Pete who had been following most of the results and he applied a Duckworth-Lewis type calculation to declare we should be in final – partly due to playing all our games into the wind and having our average start position on our 3 yard line vs the 22 for our opponents.

The speaker system fired up and the still enthusiastic pitch manager declared that the final was between Stroud and Topsham and that game would commence immediately. “Measure for Measure” the two best teams over both days had been rewarded with a Final game. After declining a volunteer “impartial” Stroud referee a Dorking ref took the whistle and the battered players from both teams ran back onto the pitch for a re-match.

Final League Table

...........................Points..For..Against..Diff
Stroud....................15 .....17........8........9
Topsham...............15......12........7........5
Dorking Cockerels12......14........7........7
Horsham.................8........6........14......-8
Dorking Roosters...6........8........14......-6
Haslemere..............4........7........13......-6

Todays league score 7-4 to Stroud showing how tight all the games had been, but Stroud showing determination to the final whistle to eek out late scores to give them victories instead of draws.

Final Stroud vs Topsham

Match Reporter: Russell

Epic final.

Starting Forwards: Orgy, Stoner, Mr T, Keyan, Laurie
Starting Backs: Hilly, Will, Arthur, Fin, Joe, Lewis, Alex

Dave was missing from the final due to his head injury. A re-jigged Stroud back line was still a big threat though for Topsham to defend. Could Stroud continue where they had left off in the league game or had they drained themselves?

Will kicked off. The Topsham receiver was heard muttering "Is this a ball which I see before me, The ball toward my hand?". He caught it cleanly and showed his intent with a long run back. Topsham were up for revenge and won the ruck, and then attacked right. Joe and Keyan did some good tackles and eventually a Topsham knock-on gave Stroud the chance to win their scrum and attack with Arthur. Topsham were fired up though and won the ruck, but Will did his own strong tackle to snuff out the attack. Topsham recycled the ball quickly though and attacked to the left and scored in the corner for a 1-0 lead. Would this also count as a silver try in the event of a tie?

Stroud kicked off but the wind held the ball up and it didn’t travel far enough. Scrum to Topsham on half way that they won and attacked to the right. They got close to the line on a number of attempts with Keyan, Mr T and Alex holding them out in successive attempts. The pressure mounted though and Topsham were awarded a penalty. Their big guys attacked and Arthur threw himself into the tackle to deny them. Topsham kept their discipline though and won the ruck and dived over the line for the 2nd score. Could Stroud come back from this or would they fold under the pressure?

Will kicked off and Topsham ran it back. Fin and Stoner took it in turns to put in great tackles. Stroud were awarded a penalty that Stoner ran. Keyan recycled the ball and passed out to Arthur who was tackled out close to Topsham try line. Topsham took the pass restart and ran to the right. Dash tackled well though and forced a turnover. Keyan took on the ball and attacked the Topsham line but more organised defense stopped Stroud from equalising. Stroud were awarded a penalty and a Keyan/Fin move got us right on the line. Topsham managed to win the ball though and touched down in their try area.

Stroud won the scrum 5 and attacked to the right. This time Arthur and Joe were denied on the line. Ruck was won by Laurie and Orgy and Stoner attacked to the left – again held up on the line and a head knock as a reward – luckily OK to stay on. How could Stroud break down this great Topsham defense? Stroud won their scrum and Will attacked left and right, well supported by Joe. Another Stroud penalty and a quick Will tap-and-go was stopped by an alert Topsham defender. Mr T helped win the ruck though which gave a great platform for Stroud to attack to the left. Stoner took the ball on first and as the defenders closed on him he passed onto Keyan who carried on the attack and scored in the left corner to bring the score back to 2-1. Could Stroud get a 2nd? Would a silver try still win it for Topsham? How many minutes were left? "If rugby be the food of love play on" shouted Jo to invigorate the troops for one last effort.

Topsham decided to receive the kick and ran it back. Fin put in a strong tackle though. Topsham resorted to a long kick but a well positioned Alex caught the ball cleanly and ran it back. Good support at the resulting ruck gave another attacking platform but this time Keyan dropped the ball backwards but an alert Fin picked it up and ran left and passed onto Dash who sprinted down the line but Topsham forced him out of play. Topsham took the pass-restart and immediately kicked long and out of play. Keyan took the Stroud restart and made some good yardage. Dash took the ball on and did a deft kick over the top. Topsham got to the ball but fly hacked it out of play which gave Stroud a penalty.

Keyan took the tap penalty and ran right and left. Will H then attacked left. Topsham slowed the game down with another penalty. This time Stoner took the penalty run and inflicted more bruising on the battered Topsham players. Another penalty and this time Keyan ran to the right. Fin and Joe carried on the attack getting closer and close to the Topsham line. Another Stroud ruck win and a run to the left with Arthur. Topsham high tackle gave Stroud another penalty. Another Keyan tap and go. Topsham saw the threat though and brought him down with another tremendous tackle. Ball was kept alive though but a final knock-on by Stroud gave a scrum to Topsham which they won and kicked the ball out. Final whistle went after what seemed like a 20 minute final.

Stroud had put their all into it and showed great determination to come back from an early 2-0 deficit to then spend the next 10+ minutes camped in the Topsham half trying multiple ways to get back into the game. Full marks to Topsham for rebounding from their league defeat and playing a great final and defending so strongly to keep us at bay.

Players and coaches congratulated each other for a great Final display – showing what great spirit both the final and the whole festival had been played in. Bodies on both sides were battered and bruised showing how intense the final had been.

Final Score: Stroud 1 – 2 Topsham

Their match report …..

We had no players left! We had started the tour with 19 players…we were now down to about 10, needing 12 to field a side…it looked to the parents and coaches that we were going to have to concede the final. Who were we to think that! Battered, bruised, bloodied and in some cases actually broken the mighty U12’s refused to give in…it was THEIR final, THEY had earned their place there and no one, least of all concerned parents, were going take it away from them. An exhausted, depleted Topsham team took to the field to face a Stroud team who had numbers and momentum on their side.

The acts of courage, the determination, the discipline, the ability to soak up pressure, the willingness to carry on when there was nothing left, the sheer guts of our lads touched everyone present – from both teams. We scored one, then another,they scored one back, they came back with more and more pressure. Try saving tackle after try saving tackle thumped home, twice over our line, Stroud were held up with massive levels of skill, awareness and strength. Wave after wave of attacks with their big lads running straight and hard were repelled with bone crunching tackles. Three consecutive penalties to Stroud a mere 5 meters from our line prolonged the agony on the touch line…then it came, the final whistle...THEY HAD DONE IT, THEY HAD WON.
----------------

Wrap-Up

Over the two days the combined try score was 18 scored and 10 conceded. 7 games won, 2 draws and 2 loses.

Tired players gathered to have a debrief with the coaching staff where they praised their determination and level of play – both for the festival and throughout the season. The team definitely did Stroud proud. Jo talked about the 11 team members contributing to the 12th player who scored the try. A quick witted Fin was keen to point out that it was a 13 man effort and was quickly shot down in flames with a reminder we played 12 a-side festival rules! Best stick to youth footy Fin where you can currently count all the players you need on 2 hands!

It was agreed that no Man-of-the-Festival award would be awarded as every player had contributed massively to the team effort. Special mention was made of the newer players – Jordan for coming of age during the tournament, Joe for his kick chasing and tackling, Riley for playing well on the wing and Edgar for his continued good development.

If Shakespeare had been a Stroud coach he would have said "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them".

This year we have a bonus award. Its for Medic-of-the-Festival. Winner by a landslide was Delia who covered more yards than the St Johns Ambulance and Stroud backs combined and patched up more players than Keyan had mars bars. The first aid kit was heavily depleted but fortunately most of it had been issued to opposing players and Stroud had got of lightly. Perhaps the Jenks/Vale warm-up conditioning sessions had finally paid off. Perhaps we got lucky. Either way lets step it up for 30 minute warm-ups next season kids and see what happens ;-)

We headed to the awards area to collect our medals and be given the runners up trophy and take celebratory photos. En-route Keyan got a water bath – last laugh to the coaches.

So our final festival after many years of practice culminated in our best overall display. "Alls well that ends well". How fitting….