See separate report for the Colts...

Under 14's - County Cup Champions

Pool games: Shelford 5 Saffron Walden 0; try: Stephen Douglas

Shelford 5 Huntingdon 0; try: Toby Hackett

Shelford 20 Ely and Royston 0; tries: Matt McCann (3), Tom Sherrington-Scales

Shelford 0 Cambridge 10

Shelford 0 Newmarket 0

Final:

Shelford 10 Cambridge 5; tries: Walker, Hutchinson

Shelford stuttered and stumbled into the final of the County Cup at Shelford on Sunday but then produced an epic performance of skill, character and bravery to reclaim the County crown from their oldest rivals.

The pool games had been an error strewn and injury ravaged struggle. A try by skipper Stephen Douglas was enough to beat a hardworking Saffron Walden team, but this was Stephen's sole contribution as he and scrum half Hitchcock departed injured to play no further part in the tournament.

Huntingdon against Shelford is always a keenly contested game. Shelford's victory owed everything to maintaining better discipline as Stags finished with 14 men. Toby Hackett's try settled the match.

Shelford produced their most convincing performance against a combined Ely and Royston team. A Matt McCann hattrick and a well-worked score by Tom Sherrington-Scales were the tries that ultimately proved critical as Shelford ran out 20-0 winners.

The next game was against fierce local rivals Cambridge who had been in imperious form so far. Shelford matched them in most areas, with the back row of Collicott, Giles and Walker outstanding. Unfortunately, however, the boys made errors at critical times. Firstly they tried to run their way out of the 22, the inevitable slip leading to a Cambridge score. The second try was an interception. Despite heroic efforts to retrieve the game Shelford slipped to a 10-0 defeat.

The match against Newmarket then became a winner-takes-all eliminator. Shelford had all the pressure but lacked the necessary cutting edge. The game ended scoreless as fantastic Newmarket defence kept the Shelford boys out.

A nervewracking wait then ensued as the adjudicators deliberated. Shelford had scored 6 tries to Newmarket's 5 and so qualified for the final by the narrowest of margins. Of course it would be the mighty Cambridge in the final.

We were now down to 17 fit players and were to lose prop Callum Pratt with a neck injury during the final (Callum was released from hospital later that evening and is fine). The boys who stepped up put in a magnificent performance to come back from a try down to claim the trophy. Firstly flanker Ollie Walker, man of the tournament in my view for his ceaseless hard work, gained reward for the excellent Shelford back row by burrowing over for the first score.

Epic defence then kept the red and yellow hordes at bay - skipper Sam Jones led the way, picking up Cambridge's Eastern Counties inside centre like he was a ragdoll and forcing him backwards.

Finally the Shelford backs clicked into gear. Prompted by scrumhalf George James, smallest of stature, but biggest of heart, the ball finally reached the mercurial centre Rory Hutchinson, who powered over in the corner. Shelford had their noses in front.

Ultimately the match was once more decided by Shelford's better discipline. Shelford were awarded a slightly controversial 22 dropout. The Cambridge skipper loudly disputed the decision. This cost his team a penalty. Hutchinson hoofed the ball into touch, the final whistle went and the trophy belonged to Shelford.

Full credit to Shelford for stepping up and outlasting their opponents. It was excellent that the full squad took part and contributed to the victory. A special mention to Ryan Brown (in his first season), Henry Taylor and Craig Stalker who selflessly supported the team and filled in key positions when more experienced players were not able to play. The team is much the stronger for this excellent attitude.

Under 16's

Shelford 39 Chingford 10
 
Shelford finished their season with a stylish performance against a committed Chingford side. Shelford executed their game plan well in the first half as they kept the ball alive at every opportunity and with a mixture of good lines of running from depth as well as good support for the ball carrier scored a number of quality tries.
 
Pressure at the breakdown forced Chingford to concede a couple of early penalties, one of which was converted by Lewis Cracknell for a 3-0 lead. A well-worked move in midfield saw Nick Webb hit the line at pace from full back to extend the Shelford lead to 8-0, which was quickly followed by a Shelford counter-attack as Josh Till did fantastically well as he fielded a kick-ahead and off-loaded to Alex Flynn. Flynn then fixed the last defender to give the supporting Lewis Cracknell the space to run in unopposed for a 13-0 lead. Another attack by Shelford down the left flank saw the outstanding Josh Till set up Captain Sam Perry to stretch our lead to 18-0.
 
The forwards continued to work hard not only at the breakdown, but in the loose as well with notable performances by Bob Thomas-Mathieson, Ben Foster and Alasdair Kerslake. It was also good to see the likes of Ben Pirzad and Jack McDaid putting themselves in good supporting positions as well as hitting rucks hard as they both put in good performances.
 
A ‘full tilt’ James Clare run from deep saw us finish the half well, converted well by Cracknell from the touch-line for a 25-0 half-time lead.
 
The second half saw a fine response by Chingford, but the game became a messy affair at the breakdown. Shelford lost a little bit of their structure in the second half and at times looked decidedly shaky in defence with various ‘dog-legs’ appearing at times. However, it was Shelford who eventually opened the second half scoring after another threatening thrust down the left by Dan Burling saw him unselfishly pop the ball out to Nick Webb to finish the move off, converted by Cracknell for a 32-0 lead.
 
Chingford started to pose more of a threat in attack as they outflanked a threadbare Shelford defence with an overlap to score a deserved try, 32-5. Shelford responded yet again with another sharp break by Dan Burling, as he again set-up another of his team-mates, this time Alex Flynn, converted by Cracknell, 39-5.
 
Shelford’s defensive frailties caught up with them when Chingford scored the final try of the game, as they burst through one of the aforementioned ‘dog-legs’ and reduce their arrears to 39-10.
 
Squad: Sam Perry (Captain), Lewis Cracknell (Vice Captain), Michael Schumann-Pratt, Lachlan Finlayson, Cormac Starling, Dan Smith, Alasdair Kerslake, Jack McDaid, Ben Pirzad, Bob Thomas-Mathieson, Ben Foster, Louis Rawlings, Michael Russum, Alex Long, George Teeboon, James Clare, James Wilson, Alex Flynn, Lewis Green, Josh Till, Harri Beasley, Dan Burling, Nick Webb.

Under 13's

Chingford 0 Shelford 27

Shelford made a prompt start, with Dom Talbot scoring two early tries. David Pugh got a third try to put Shelford 15-0 up with most of the game stll to play. Chingford then began to wake up and improved as the first half progressed. Nonetheless Dom ran another try to secure his hat trick. Rory Jebb converted for a half-time score of 22-0.

Chingford continued to improve and the second half was closely contested. But Shelford defended well to keep a clean sheet, with Connor Hein-Jones getting one more try. Final score: 27-0 to Shelford.