After two previous visits to the Nottingham festival without winning a game or for that matter scoring a try, this year’s team went with far higher aspirations after a season of steady but significant progress. For the first time this year the under 12’s were at full strength welcoming back Olly Hogan in particular who had been out for over two months with an ankle injury. After a good practice workout on the Thursday afternoon the lads were looking forward to the tournament proper on the Friday and Saturday.
The first match on Good Friday was against Haslemere,a team the coaches felt were beatable. The first half was a particularly scrappy affair with both teams making far too many basic errors. Unfortunately Ormskirk fell into their old trick of a slow start and this allowed the Haslemere team to get a grip of the game allowing them to score the first try in the corner after their forwards had won some quality ball on the ‘Kirk 22. Fortunately Ormskirk came out for the second half with renewed vigour. The forwards were continually driving back their counterparts until finally the hard work paid off with prop Aaron Waggoner driving over for a try after a good maul on the Haslemere line. The feeling was that the wind was now with Ormskirk and they would go on and win the game. Unfortunately Ormskirk failed to hold on to their concentration and when a Haslemere player was tackled in midfield he somehow managed to wriggle free and darted into the corner to score the decisive try. A very despondant Ormskirk team traipsed off the field at the final whistle knowing in their hearts that this was a game they could and should have won. A slight consolation was at the thirteenth attempt the lads had finally broken their duck and had scored a try at the festival.
Ormskirk 5Â Halemere 10
As the sun shone down the lads regrouped and were looking forward to pitting themselves against a strong Richmond team who many thought stood a good chance of progressing in the cup side of the competition. The first half was a good scrap between two evenly matched sets of forwards although good work by Ormskirk’s front row ensured that we had plenty of good possesssion. Unfortunately, and against the run of play, Richmond scored the first try late in the half leaving the Ormskirk team plenty to do for the rest of the game. Again at the start of the second half Ormskirk started to dominate. A great scrum won near the Richmond line allowed scrum half Harry James the time to dart round the blind side and score an excellent opportunist try in the corner. However yet again Ormskirk allowed themselves to switch off and straight from the kick off a Richmond second row forward caught the ball unchallenged and ran on to score in the corner. In many ways this knocked the stuffing out of the lads and Richmond finished off the game from a penalty near the Ormskirk line where weak tackling allowed one of their forwards an easy walk over near the line. To compound matters Ormskirk appeared to have lost influential back  Olly Hogan after a knock to the knee left him requiring medical attention.
Ormskirk 5Â Richmond 15
When you are down the team not to face is last year’s Twickenham champions, Worcester, but unfortunately this was to be the case. To be fair to Worcester they are not a massive team but are a very well drilled unit who constantly do the basics well. The first half seemed to go by in a whirl but by the end of it Ormkirk had conceded four unanswered tries. To give credit to the lads they worked harder in the second half with Craig Ennis leading the way with some bone crunching tackles. Two further tries to Worcester however left the Ormskirk team somewhat dejected on a day when they felt their first Festival victory was there for the taking but they ended up with nothing.
Ormskirk 0Â Worcester 30
After a disappointing first day Ormskirk had it all to do on the Saturday with hard games against Northampton and Derby to face. The day started with some good news as Olly Hogan appeared to be fit again after a good night’s sleep and copious amounts of strapping. The first game of the morning was against Northampton Old Scouts, a game which was important to win and win well. Fortunately Ormskirk started the game in excellent form and it was not too long before a brilliant run by Tom Povey bamboozled the opposition and he touched down in the corner. This was followed up a couple of minutes later as the ball was passed down the line again to Tom Povey to score his second of the game. At the start of the second half Ormskirk again controlled play with the forwards dominating the set pieaces through good work by Andy Jones and Marcus Rylance in particular. The only disappointment in an otherwise excellent performance was that there was no further score. The team came off to rapturous applause from parents and spectators alike. Finally the Nottingham hoodoo had been broken .
Ormskirk 10 Northampton Old Scouts 0
This victory was the fillip that the Ormskirk team needed and they came out for their final group match brimming with confidence. Again the lads faced another hard game, this time against Derby who had well beaten us at the same stage of the festival last year. The first half was an evenly matched affair with Derby taking a lead half way through the first half which they held on to until the break. It was all or nothing now and Ormskirk lifted their game accordingly. The game was won by two outstanding individual tries from winger Olly Hogan both times breaking through the Derby line with players hanging off him to score in the corner. Amazingly the lads had come up with back to back victories to lift themselves to fourth in their group and a place in the plate quarter finals.
Ormskirk 10Â Derby 5
To get to the plate competition was a real bonus and something which was not really expected. The opponents in the quarters would be Dunstable, a team with possibly the largest and tallest backs you are ever likely to see at under 12 level. In many ways this was a mismatch of a game with the Ormskirk team outmuscled and outfought especially in the first half with Dunstable scoring three unanswered tries. Different tactics in the second half kept the ball away from the Dunstable backs and tied up in the forwards where Ormskirk were competing well. Alas two further tries Dunstable’s way ended Ormskirk’s interest in the competition. At the end of the game the general feeling was of achievment and that the progress made this year had been significant. The under 12’s could now come to big tournaments and stand toe to toe with bigger clubs and compete.
Ormskirk 0Â Dunstable 25
At the end of the festival the coaches were generally pleased with the way things had gone not least in securing two victories and competing well in the other games. Being an inexperienced team this side will only get better and hopefully with hard work and commitment they can set their sights even higher for next season.Â
