The ECR juniors gained some good experience at the recent EPA competition at Whittlesey. The event was staged to find two teams to represent England in a competition in Holland.
Although our youngsters went in good heart they were up against bigger and more experienced players. Having said that the team from Victorians performed very well, winning three of their 5 games. Sam Mellen, Gavin & Chris Wilmot’s first game was against a mixed team and they lead at one stage, but the opposition overtook them and ran out 13-10 winners.
Harry Waldie & Sam Newman from Rayne Swan and Jack Pearse from Feering Bell made up the second team and their first game was against the strong Chiltern 1. They did very well only just losing out 13-10.
In the 2nd round the two ECR teams played each other with the Victorians gaining a decisive 13-3 win.
Harry, Jack & Sam went on to lose their next 2 games. In their final game things were looking good when they went 8-0 up against the mixed team but the opposition clawed their way back and went on to win 13-10.
Sam, Gavin & Chris had a good 13-2 win over E.Midlands and in their final game were up against the team who were leading at that point, Chiltern 2. In a game that lasted approx 1 ½ hrs the young lads caused a stir by beating the Chiltern boys 13-9.
Both our teams learnt a lot by playing at this level even though they are young – Chris, Gavin 10 and Sam 12, Harry 14, Jack 13 and Sam 10, they all enjoyed themselves and it bodes well for the future in our region.