Everywhere we go, people want to know!!

Dont really know where to start....perhaps the fact that our lads just faced up to some pretty huge teams and responded with some of the best 15 man rugby I have seen by ANY U14's team. Like a right saddo, I had looked up each of the teams we were due to play and privately thought we may get 1 or 2 wins and possibly a couple of gallant displays.....what we actually got were 6 AWESOME displays from ALL 18 lads........ and oh, 5 wins and one very gallant loss to Ipswich, who had only won the tournament for 3 years running.

I think all the Datch parents, coaches, managers, photographers, costume designers, judges, referees and fervent supporters will acknowledge that none of us saw such a big step up in performance coming. In recent weeks we have reorganised the team slightly in terms of positions of individuals, and with Harry and Scott finding their feet, the team just took off. OR was it the fact that our kitman (known only as 'Simple Devine')forgot the datch kit and turned up with 18 retro England Shirts sourced from various Sports Direct shops in both Bristol and Exeter.......who cares!

Esher A for openers.....not a bad 'little' side.....but not good enough for the boys in white. 15-10 to Datch and Scott with his first try.... the score should have been more onesided and it would have been fully justified...they played them off the park. Next up were Old Conventarians...the festival bully boys....too busy trying to beat up and bite our boys that they quickly found themselves 3 tries down...some very pee'd off coaches and supporters on my side of the pitch! However they were big and extremely brutal, and managed to fight back to give us a nail biting finish. A huge well done to Marcus for somehow managing to smash the OC's no.3 in to touch at the death.....

A gentler end to the first day with Newton Abbot. A really nice team and set of supporters were a bit shell shocked to lose 35 - 0 but the game did produce what I predict could be the photo of the tour....Colin waving to his dad on the camera as he made his way over, again. Karma for his show-boating had him rolling about with both legs in cramp and he had to leave the pitch, but job done.

Day 2's first fixture was against Ystrad Rhondda....billed more as Wales Vs England.....if only.....25-5 to England. Now really believing they could produce the goods in every game , despite most carrying injuries, they blew Wolverhampton away. Very satisfyingly we had identified the major threat by watching them play Ipswich...a massive no.8 who's sole pupose in life was to smash people with his shoulder as he 'tackled'...he laid out several Ipswich players before being threatened with the red card. At the first scrum he picked up and found himself rooted to the spot with Rory Welch round his ankles and seconds later Colin smashing him square in the chest....timber! he didnt want to play after that. 15-0 to Datch.

After 5 games of hard rugby the boys were like the walking wounded...but we strapped them together and emptied cans of deep heat and freeze spray on to every square inch......unfortunately it wasnt enough to stop a very fresh Ipswich, with a squad of 27 and only one game played that day, a gallant 25-10 loss. The boys had now played longer than it is recommended to do so and we could probably only have fielded a very tired side of 14 players for a Cup Semi Final....The boys decided enough was enough and that should in noway reflect a lack of courage or stamina. We reluctantly withdrew from the rest of the tournament which will have finished sometime around midnight I imagine.

I have tried not to mention individuals because they all deserve a mention for the great things they did, But, I have to mention Scott, who ended up with 7 tries after a staggering tournament in which he had scored his first ever and Harry AKA 'Melman', who proved a major find on the wing.....perhaps it was something to do with his tour shirt with The Enforcer on the back.....because he did exactly that. lastly Franco, purely for being able to look good even wearing a bib and bonnet...
Cheers

A very, very chuffed and proud coach, among many