Foxbury Festival

On a dull but mild morning in South London it was time for the Gladiators to show us what they had been training for all winter, and they were chomping at the bit after last week's cancellation.
After a quick study of the festival programme we saw we would be facing the hosts 2nd and 3rd team, Old Whitgiftians and Tonbridge Judds. All the players had arrived in good time and it was straight down to the warm up. We were then informed that Judds hadn't turned up so we would now only be playing 3 matches. The boys were a bit dissapointed but just wanted to get on and play.
So order of play was now as follows.
Old E's iii v Gravesend
Old E's ii v Gravesend
Old Whits v Gravesend

Match 1
Old E's iii v Gravesend
The boys started well and scored a quick break away try thanks to good running and poor tackling. Now to test our defence and it held firm for a good few phases but then a couple of missed tackles and they scored in the corner. G's restarted and took the game to the hosts, some lovely phases and good quick rucking payed dividends and another try was scored. 2 - 1 to Gs at the break. A quick change of personel at half time so as to try and maximise game time for everyone. Some strong tackling and counter rucking saw the G's quickly win back possesion from the re-start and lovely passage of play through the phases and 2 quick passes saw another score in the corner. Again from the re-start, good strong tackling and counter rucking produced more turnovers and the G's enjoyed some good possession for the remainder of the game and ran in another try.
Final Score
Old E's iii 1-4 Gravesend

Match 2
Old E's ii v Gravesend
The boys knew this was going to be a tougher game than their first, so we told them to keep calm and do the simple thing well. They started well and their quick line speed led to a few dropped balls from the hosts and G's made the most of the possession running in a quick try. The G's defence was looking impenetrable at this point and the host were getting very frustrated, which led to more than a few high tackles and the referee gave out a final warning. All the players were warned again about high tackles at half time and told the next offender would be have to subbed. We told the boys to calm down at half time and to play their own game as they were getting very frustrated with the high tackles. This seemed to sink in and from the start of the 2nd half they played much calmer rugby and went through the phases and some nice passing saw 3 more try's run in, and the referee was good to his word and punished the next high tackle with asking the Old E's player to be subbed.
Final Score
Old E's ii 0 - 4 Gravesend

Match 3
Old Whitgiftians v Gravesend
The boys had their tails up now and wanted a 100% record. We told them if they played how we know they can and stayed calm then they would get the win. G's started with the ball and quickly ran in a try thanks to strong straight running and poor tackling. The G's defence then held firm again against every attack and the quick line speed just piled the pressure on Whits, leading to many dropped balls and turnovers. The remainder of the match saw strong counter rucking, offloading and excellent passing and running with ball in hand leading to several more try's in each half.
Final Score
Old Whits 0 - 7 Gravesend

So a lovely 100% record at our first festival of the spring festival season. All the boys played really well, and conducted themselves brilliantly. Got to do it all again at Colf's next week now. Bring it on, I can't wait.