Walking up hill and down dale, through ancient forests and open fields, the refugees from the north circular trickled in to the green fields of Richmond. Hampstead arrived late - but the boys were ready for the day, showing up ready to go against some of the best u12 teams in London. Having earned the shot to play from the work all year in the league, they were ready to stand up and be counted.

The first match was vs Rosslyn Park. The start wasn’t perfect, with a couple of handling errors sneaking in. Under a bit of pressure, a couple of missed tackles let the opposition break through for an early try. Heads didn’t drop however, and the team came back with some of the best rugby we’ve seen from them all year. Power runners breaking through, beautiful structured play with inside balls sucking in the defence then the ball flying wide, finding the support runners, turnovers and tackles, generally a complete performance. After the blast, Hampstead was up 4-1, and looking relatively confident. There was a twist in the tail though - a bit of bad luck with a decision left RP through for a try. That gave the opposition a boost and they put Hampstead under a fair bit of pressure going into half time, camping out in the 22. Eying a 1 try game at the half was suddenly much more stressful, but the defence held. A great rip and run changed the mood completely, sending the boys into the half up 5-2. Buzzing at the half, the boys just had to maintain their composure. Rosslyn park came back into the match- but the boys saw it out, even adding to the score for a convincing win.

Grasshoppers were next, kindly letting us delay kickoff to have a bit of extra rest - apparently it was needed, because even with that the opposition scored first again. The boys held their nerve though, and started hammering away. Strong carries were met with strong tackles , and though our attacking rucking was amongst the best we’ve had all year, it did take a bit of quick thinking to find our way through - a 9 snipe and then a cross kick to a flying winger. Apparently, there is a scalpel as well as a cudgel, though we came close to a third with a power run at the end. Half time at 2-1, all was still to play for. The second half was another battle - Grasshoppers sending large runners at the boys repeatedly. One punched through, and the match went into the final quarter delicately poised. Hampstead raised the pressure, but though the last minute or two was spent camped on the opposition tryline, couldn’t quite find the score before time ran out, with the match finishing 2-2.

Some great rugby today - real team play, everyone contributing, and very happy that they got some of the reward they deserved.