Tens tussle for Swaffham rugby lads

ALL eyes were on the Swaffham Rugby Club's lads on Saturday at the Cambridge rugby tens contest, as the reigning champions from 2009, they were very much seen as the team to beat this year.

The tournament was hosted at Cambridge rugby club on Saturday, September 4, and saw seven teams in total competing and although Swaffham only got the opportunity to play three of them, the lads in the golden shirts stood their ground and fought hard for their honour.

Swaffham's first encounter was against North Walsham, where they found themselves caught offguard a little.

The final score of North Walsham 7, Swaffham 0 belies the truth of Swaffham's valiant battle, and they made the Walsham lads fight hard for that one single try.

After some serious motivational talking from team captain Louis Gunnell, Swaffham returned to the field with a renewed fire in their bellies to face Colchester.

Swaffham were like a different team in this second game, as they ran try after try over the line to produce a final score of Swaffham 41, Colchester 0.

A short break followed to allow everyone to recover, and then Swaffham faced their third opponents of the day, the army lads from Watisham Warriors.

Having seen some of Watisham's earlier games that day, Swaffham knew this was going to be a tough match against a very strong and disciplined side.

The Swaffham lads dominated the first half, putting a cool ten points on the board while holding Watisham firmly in their own half.

However, Watisham came back with all guns blazing in the second half to end the game on a scoreline of Watisham 21, Swaffham 10.

Watisham went on to win the tournament this year with a whopping 56-10 victory over Holt in the final.

This weekend the rugby season kicks off with a bang as Swaffham's first XV are at home to West Norfolk at North Pickenham Road.

All support for these local lads would be welcomed.