MAD DOGS' LEFT OUT IN THE RAIN

GRFC 0-4 SEVENOAKS
GRFC 0-2 OLD COLFEIANS
GRFC 0-3 SIDCUP

GRFC 0-3 OLD COLFEIANS (BOWL FINAL)

On a glorious day for playing if not watching, coaching or refereeing rugby, the U12 'Mad Dogs' made the journey down the A20 into the heart of South London surburbia for the Henry Dowswell Festival at Sidcup. Sidcup RFC boasts 3 lovely flat pitches, a modern clubhouse all set smack bang in the middle of a densely populated area. However, with all due respect to the quality of the rugby facilities, the lack of parking available makes Sidcup a somewhat strange choice to hold an annual festival.

Nevertheless, somewhat surprisingly every Mad Dog and their owner(s) managed to make it to the ground on time for the pre-match warm up. To allow maximum Festival game time for the entire squad, many of last week's Aylsford Festival team were rested by head coach Nev Hope so this presented an excellent opportunity for many of the new and developing squad members to go out and show what they could do in tournament play.

A key Mad Dog strength is the relationship all the boys have developed with each other over, for many, the past 5/6 years - they're truly a group of mates who get on well together. This is a fantastic foundation for a rugby team, however based on the initial warm up drills the boys need to learn quickly when it's time to stop messing about and "get their game heads on". Assertive words from the coaching team subsequently saw the boys look much sharper and ready for rugby in a subsequent game of semi-contact touch rugby.

First up were Sevenoaks featuring one or two eleven year old players who looked old enough to be some of their peers' fathers!!! Early exchanges were even but it soon became clear that Sevenoaks were going to draw first blood through one of their big guys. As the largest Sevenoaks forward started to draw more and more Gravesend 'clingons' in as he made stridant gains up the park, shouts from the side of "take the legs, take the legs" were either ignored or at best not heard as he took the ball over the line to deservedly score. Some Mad Dogs, including Cameron Cloggie (who was outstanding all day) and Alfie Howden showed the agression, commitment and technique needed to take on a big side like Sevenoaks but when you have such a size difference to contend with, you need the whole team to give 110% for 14 minutes and this just wasn't happening today. Sevenoaks went on to overpower the Mad Dogs by 4 tries to nil.

Next up were Old Colfeians, a club which this Gravesend cohort have seldom come up against over the years. This should have been a much more even contest which it was but nonetheless the Mad Dogs seemed intent on giving the upper hand to Colfe's largely through ill-discipline in defence. In attack glimmers of hope were evident via the running of Cameron Cloggie, Finley Pavey, Charles Martin and Toby Dennison but the Old Boy's were simply up for it more and making the hits where Gravesend were not. Final score 2-0 to Colfes following a second half of torrential rain.

The rain was still pelting down by the time the Gees cam to face hosts Sidcup in the final Pool B game. Sidcup are another big, abrasive side although this Gravesend squad had played them only two weeks earlier so at least had the benefit of knowing what they were up against. However this proceeded to provide only the slightest of advantages with Sidcup, like Sevenoaks before them, bossing Gravesend throughout the match and on to a convincing 3-0 victory.

So, P3 W0 D0 L0 F0 A9 Pts3. This very wet day could not have been any more of a washout but ironically, following the withdrawal of Beckenham from Pool B, the Mad Dogs had qualified for the Bowl final and an opportunity to redress the balance against Old Colfeians and somewhat amazingly leave the festival with a piece of silverware.

Alas, on the basis of play throughout the tournament, it was only fair that Colfes triumphed again albeit at the hands of unforced Gees' handling errors leading to the first two out of their final total of three tries without response. As ever there were still some positives to take, particularly the quick running of Aman Ahluwalla and Sam Hiskett, both of whom are only a matter of weeks into their rugby careers.

The great Billy Ocean once said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" and perhaps, as Coach Nev inferred with the support of his assistants at the end today's matches, now is the time for each and every Mad Dog to step up and toughen up or else consider whether a contact sport like rugby is really for them. A thought provoking rhetoric indeed but it was very pleasing to see all the Mad Dogs' heads up and instinctively indicate a desire to want to toughen up. In many ways, not least because they've proved themselves tough enough many times before, this is something that needs to start immediately with a trip to the perennially tough Blackheath on the horizon next weekend.

Come on you Mad Dogs!!