Northampton Saints Under 14 Tournament (24th October)

Pool stage

Shelford 25 Rushden and Higham 0 (Tries: Toby Hackett (2), James Knoop, James Tilbury, Sam Jones)

Shelford 10 Kettering 0 (Tries: Sam Jones, Oscar Giles)

Final

Shelford 5 Cambridge 5 (Try: Ben Bishop)

A very exciting day ended with skipper Sam Jones receiving the trophy from Scotland international Scott Gray on the pitch at Franklins Gardens at halftime during the Saints v Sale premiership clash. During a nail biting final Cambridge and Shelford could not be separated. The Shelford boys were disappointed not to have won but there is no doubt that with greater composure they could have lifted the trophy as champions. First blood went to the boys in red and yellow. Cambridge won a scrum in the Shelford 22 with a big inviting blindside. Sure enough the Cambridge scrum half darted round the scrum into the space. The Shelford back row was not alive to the danger and a 3 on 1 overlap led to a try for the Cambridge winger. Full credit to Shelford as the boys bounced back. Great driving and slick recycling engineered an opening for second row Ben Bishop to level the scores. Shelford had the lion's share of possession in the second half but could not create another scoring opportunity. If anything the boys tried to play too much rugby in wet rainy conditions when forward driving and kicking for field position would have been a better policy on the day. The game ended all square.

Earlier in the pool games Shelford had been too strong for their two Northamptonshire opponents. Shelford quickly notched four tries in the first half against Rushden as our opponents had no answer to the pace and power of our backs. First half try scorers were James Knoop, Sam Jones, James Tilbury and Toby Hackett. Rushden came back into the game in the second half but a further try from Hackett stifled the revival - final score 25-0 to Shelford.

Kettering were big and strong and came with a game plan - to stop Knoop. This plan worked well for them as James faced two opponents every time he had the ball. However this left space for others, in particular our powerful ball carriers Oscar Giles and Sam Jones who both scored first half tries. The second half was bizarre as we seemed to concede a penalty at every contact situation. Any player on his feet attempting to pick up a ball at the breakdown was penalised - a very strict interpretation of the rucking law, which basically nullified any contest at the breakdown which is one of our strengths. However we knew we had not won the referee over when he penalised Ben Bishop for 'raising his eyebrows in an aggressive manner'. Despite this setback the boys defended well and closed out the victory that would see them into the final.