Shelford won the Wendens Festival by beating all comers. It was agreed that we would play in a league rather than a knock out format which meant everyone got a chance to play plenty of rugby. As the morning progressed the team performances improved, especially the forward play who came together as a unit while the backs had cycle’s of passing play which opened up the opposition defence on many occasions.

Shelford 20 – 0 Wendens Ambo

Try Scorer: Tom Whitehead 4

It was essential to get off to a good start and after a long period of pressure Shelford took the advantage after Tom drove over the line to score his first of the morning. Tom’s second came after he received a pass from Finn, he pushed through to score in the centre. The next came at the end of a cycle of passing play with Tom scoring in the corner. Almost identical try following a scrum with passes from Kieran, Tom Cropper for Tom to score.

Shelford 15 – 5 Bury St Edmunds

Try Scorer: Tom Whitehead 2 & Tom Cropper 1

Tom Cropper scored his first of the morning again after a period of passing play to go over in the corner. BSE pulled one back and went in a try a piece at half time. Soon after the restart Tom Whitehead got his first of the game with an interception and 25 metre run to score. Tom’s second came after another period of passing play involving most of the backs to go over in the corner.

Shelford 15 – 0 Royston

Try Scorer: Ben Frisk, Tom Whitehead and Tom Parkes

Our third win came against a strong Royston who had piled on the earlier pressure. Shelford absorbed this pressure and broke through when Ben Frisk took a pass from Tom Whitehead and ran hard to score. Half time. Shelford pushed on in the second half when Tom Whitehead drove to go score and Tom Parkes broke through the Royston defence to go over in the corner. Three out of three.

Shelford 15 – 0 Saffron Walden

Try Scorers: Ryan Deamer, Finn Karsten & Toby Herbert

As the team performances improved more players started to score and our first came from Ryan after a series of passes which opened the SW defence. Our second came from Finn who caught the ball from a penalty followed by a dummy to score a try. The next came from Toby with his first try for the club, following a period of pressure we were 5 metres out and Toby got the ball to drive over to score.

Shelford 40 – 5 Ely

Try Scorers: Tom Whitehead 2, Tom Cropper 2, Kieran Hatter, Stan Clark, Ryan Deamer & Conner Wells

As the morning progressed the team performances improved significantly and shown in the last game as more players got their names on the score sheet. Tom Whitehead and Cropper both scored a couple a piece. Kieran’s try came from a Finn Karsten pass and dummy to allow Kieran to break the Ely defence. Stan’s try came from a Shelford drive and a powerful dive over the line. Ryan’s came after a similar period of play and Conner made it over towards the end of the game. This confirmed Shelford as the Wenden’s U11’s Festival winners.

Shelford Man of the Match for the forwards was Toby Herbert and a back was Kieran Hatter which was both thoroughly deserved.

Under 10's

It is not often Carver Barracks is an oasis of sunshine, let alone a place of tournament victory for our boys - well done to both teams for their considerable efforts a great result for all of us, especially the boys who have a great victory to share with their friends at schools.
 
A Team Reports: 
From the first game the boys performed incredibly  with the team defending so solidly that no-one was ever in danger of breaching our try line.
Although we had the normal slick play from our in-form back line, this tournament was more about the support shown for team members, the self less commitment to the team and the grinding gutsy performance of the forwards, where many of the games were won.

Match 1:Saffron Waldon 0 Shelford 10
Despite being warned that we would have to come out of the blocks quickly with games only lasting 12 minutes a piece the boys took a while to get into their stride. The usual suspects were  putting in thumping tackles in the middle of the park with Harry Simpson, Tom French and Angus Thomson pulling down the opposition left and right.  Jamie Coates at scrum half started to distribute well from the base of the scrum and the team saw the balls worked down the back line, allowing good runs from Jamie Johnson and Will Stepney. It was the engine room of the scrum though that saw the first try to settle the nerves come from Joe Thompson after great driving from the forwards and the ball popped from Henry Breeze to Joe Thompson to bustle over the line. The second half saw more of the same with the forwards making ground before Breeze again released Simpson who’s  quick pass found  Angus Thomson who went over to make the tie safe.

Match 2: Royston 0 Shelford 30
By game two the team were into their stride. The Royston team looked enormous and freshly released from prison but still held no fear for Shelford as, from the kick off, the ever present Harry Simpson  settled nerves and set the theme of the game going straight over with a quick try.
Now the team were running  the game with Angus Thomson again making a great break to go over for his second and was quickly followed by  a great run from Jamie Johnson after quick hands released him which was unlucky not to end in a try. The third try was another excellent team effort with  backs making ground before the forwards took the ball forward again and Henry Breeze released Joe Thompson  for his second try of the tournament. Will Stepney then got his just reward for another  solid performance by taking the ball over after Breeze and Simpson again combined after great forward driving to feed him on the  wing. The second half saw Jamie Johnson again nearly going over after a long run  from the supply of Harry Simpson , Angus Thomson and  Tom French. This time Henry Breeze was on hand to pick and drive over the line to make the total five.
Joe Thompson was again the scorer after a team move with both the backs and forwards recycling ball again and again before Henry Breeze popped the final pass to him to make the sixth score .

Match 3: Wendens Ambo  0 – Shelford 20 
By the time we took  on the hosts the boys were supporting and playing for each other like never before. The  back line of Jamie Coates , Harry Simpson,  Tom French, Will Stepney, Angus Thomson and Jamie Johnson put up a brick wall of defence, never allowing  Wendons to establish  any rythmn. The Forwards came into their own with Josh Butler, Henry Breeze and Joe Thompson using rolling mauls to make ground before Joe Thompson was released through Henry Breeze on two occasions and through Josh Butler on a third to go over for 3 more tries taking his tally to an impressive 6 tries. The second half saw the backs running more freely  and eventually Angus Thomson going over for another well deserved try from the passing of Tom French, Harry Simpson and Jamie Coates. 
 
Match 4:vBury 0 -  Shelford  5
Both teams entered this game with no defeats and no tries scored against them Despite us brushing aside Bury in earlier  full games they always are a difficult  adversary in the Windy Wendens tournie. The game was a war of attrition from the off with both  packs fighting for every inch of turf. It didn’t take long though for the whole team to step up a gear to start to impose themselves in defence with the back line manfully giving no ground at all and blocking every attempt to attack. The forwards drove on and unsurprisingly it was Joe Thompson who touched down after being fed  once again by Harry Simpson and Henry Breeze. From this point on we thrashed them without being able to cross their try line. They were absolutely resolute in defence but we were able to keep within 10 metres of their line for most of the match.  Despite our dominance we were relieved and excited when the final whistle sounded and we were almost assured of our second tournament win of the season.
The boys were delighted to taste the cold sweet taste of revenge and  looked forward in carnival mood for the last game of the tournament against the much fancied Shelford B team who had recorded a victory against a large Royston Boys

Match 5: Shelford B 0 – Shelford A 35

As Jamie French said, a game for  schizophrenics. A win would give the A’s the cup but the B’s were in no mood to capitulate. Both sides fought out a bitter encounter with the battle lasting for what seemed days. It was a game for rewards with  Henry Breeze, springing like a young gazelle from the half way line to outpace and the chasing pack on three occasions to score 3 well deserved tries. The  backs as well were represented in the first half with the ever present Tom French also going over for a richly deserved try. With the half time team talk being given by Captain Harry Simpson they were ready to seal their victory. The second half closed out with tries for Joe Thomson form the kick off for his magnificent 7th. Jamie Johnson finally got his reward with a well worked try  run over from the half way line and Jamie Coates,  also in celebratory mood putting the game beyond the B’s with the final games 7th try.

The squad should be well pleased with themselves. The team played fantastically as a whole with the backs and forwards interchanging well and the forwards carrying the fight constantly to the opposition. The second tournament victory of the year for a very special set of lads and the county cup should now be our very real aim. 

Developing squad reports:
 
This was always going to be a big ask as no other club brought a development squad, so our boys were expected to challenge 'A teams' who were both rather large up front and keen on any victory they could get over Shelford.
Match 1: Shelford B 10 Wendens Ambo 25
This was a game that Shelford could have won (despite Wendens being a strong side and only losing to Bury St Edmunds by one try). The up front challenge was tough with Daniel; Alistair and Harvey having to work hard to gain possession - even on our own put in. A few very robust driving players in their squad prevented our backs  from grouping and providing effective cover for each other. despite brave tackling from Aiden and  Findlay in particular they were too strong. Daniel Hoole continues his excellent passage of play to score a great solo try with Findlay Thompson joining him for one of his own. In this game there was a lack of confidence to drive and support each other - especially amongst the young players that we need to work on going forward. 
 
Match 2: Shelford B 0 : Bury St Edmunds 25 
With confidence low our boys had only a five minute break before meeting the challenge of the tournament runners up. Having refereed Bury in their previous game, I was very aware of their strength up front. Low driving runs from their forwards made it very difficult for our boys to tackle low and hold ground - despite some brave efforts with both Joshua Whitmore and Joshua Alexander joining the fray and putting in some useful tackles.  However collectively we did not work hard enough for each other to pose a significant challenge to Bury. Many boys were caught isolated with the ball, with little or no support - this led to ball being turned over and or rucks that we could have won being lost. A good learn for us that driving in and over the ball in combinations is the only way to create space for scrum half and or other players to move the ball out wide. Nevertheless Max Murphy came into a number of rucks to help support other backs being run over ! namely Aiden and Julian Renwick . Findlay continued to tackle and run with explosive power but also found the lack of close support players  led to lost possession at crucial moments of play. Young Oscar turned out in this game and tried his best to run with the ball in support of others. If it is any consolation Bury scored four of their tries in the first half and our boys only let one in after half time - a commendable performance. A very tough game and not a bad result given the strength of Bury St Edmunds.
 
Match 3: Shelford B 20 Royston 10 
What a difference a twenty minute break can have + refreshments. The boys really wanted to do well in this game .......... and they did. Having refereed Royston their strength was up front, yet our boys drove hard with scraps of possession to unsettle Royston. To illustrate this Aiden Thomas scored three excellent tries that were gathered from ball won by both our forward combinations and excellent support play from our back line of Max Murphy; Joshua Alexander  & Joshua Whitmore; Findlay Thompson and Julian Renwick -  who controlled the line well in this game. We were even blessed with some performing arts from Aiden once over the line, before dotting the ball down, great play by the young man ! Findlay scored an excellent solo try bisecting the Royston squad to run in unopposed. This was a great team effort and demonstrated that when the boys work together they can win - remember Royston beat our developing players at home this season.
 
Match 4: Shelford B 0 Saffron Walden 25 
Once again our boys were challenged by a full strength Saffron Walden team that linked well in all phases of the game. Having said that our tackle count fell away and we conceded some very soft tries. I think by this game our boys had only 20 minutes respite in total so energy levels were low. Nevertheless is was great to see Daniel Hoole driving forward with the ball on a number of occasions as well as Joshua Alexander but in an excellent try saving cover tackle. Alistair Graham got some great throws in place and our boys gathered some useful ball. Nevertheless the power of these senior sides sapped the energy and there was only so much Julian Renwick, Max Murphy, Aiden and Joshua Whitmore could do to hold them out. A tough game but played in excellent spirit.
 
Match 5: Shelford B 0 : Shelford A 35

Under 8’s – Wendens Festival Winners

Shelford 25 Ely 5

Shelford 30 Bury 10

Shelford 40 Wendens Ambo 25

Cup Final Shelford 30 Royston 20

Pool A

Shelford A 25 Bury St Edmunds 35

Shelford A 15 Wendens Ambo B 10

Shelford A 15 Royston 15

Pool B

Shelford B 20 Ely 30

Shelford B 25 Saffron Walden A 35

Shelford B 10 Wendens Ambo A 25

Report:

Shelford ‘A’ started slowly in what turned out to be their toughest game against the eventual tournament winners.  Bury St Edmunds took an early lead and although Shelford were never more than two tries behind they were unable to overhaul Bury St Edmunds and the final score was 25-35.  The try scorers for Shelford were Ollie French (2), Joe Davies, Harry Punshon and Joshua Speechley.In their second pool match Shelford ‘A’ met Wendens Ambo ‘B’ and put in a much better performance coming out 15-10 winners.  The try scorers were Joshua Speechley (2) and Harry Punshon.In their final pool game Shelford ‘A’ met Royston in a very close game and eventually they couldn’t be separated with a 15-15 draw.  This time the try scorers were Harry Punshon and William Barnett (2).  With one win, one tie and one loss, Shelford ‘A’ came second in their pool and unfortunately failed to progress to the final.