A team of 12 eager U11s players attended the first post-Covid rugby festival at Eastbourne RFC on Sunday, 17th October 2021. The coaches opted to take a more experienced side to this festival in order to give the newer players more time in training before setting them loose on other teams in anger.

The squad played three games, all against strong opposition. First up were Seaford, and Lewes put in some great tackles early on to show their intent and keep Seaford on the backfoot. The next game was against a highly skilled and well drilled Chichester team, who shifted the ball through the hands away from contact. The final game was against a Crowborough side, whom Lewes played straight after their game against Chichester. Watching from the side-lines was tiring enough, let alone having to play back-to-back matches.

Coach Mike Cass did great work in keeping the players rotating so they didn’t get too tired and ensured all of the players got equal game time.

The squad of Lukas, Theo, Seb D, Edward, Szymon, Jack, Dylan, Toby, Malin, Tabitha, Seb P and Adam did Lewes proud, coming out winners against Seaford and Crowborough, and going down fighting to the last against Chichester. Bearing in mind four of the players were playing their first contact festival for Lewes and for some, their first actual festival, they were immense from 1 –through to 12.

The bar has been set very high for our up-coming fixtures and festivals and the coaching team were given some great areas to develop in training in the coming weeks. The support was fantastic, as we’ve come to expect, from our parents, so well done to all involved for successful start to the competitive season.