MIDHURST hosted a triangular friendly made up of under-10s from Midhurst, Petersfield and Shoreham.

Each club had large enough squads to make two teams, so two pools were created with one team from each club in each pool.

The Petersfield teams were made up of roughly equal ability teams.

In pool one, Petersfield played Midhurst and Shoreham in the two opening games, working out a 4-0 and a 2-0 wins respectively. Spectators and coaches agreed that the rugby played by all sides was a joy to watch.

Nathan and Connor hooked up to show how the forwards are likely to look a couple of years from now. The usual spread of Ethan, Noah, Will and Bradley put the pace on when required and helped to maintain an unbreakable defense.

In pool two, the games were tighter. The first match between Shoreham and Midhurst ended with a 2-2 draw, followed by a tense 0-0 draw between Petersfield and Shoreham. In the final match, “last play” was called at the end of the second half with Petersfield and Midhurst tied at 0-0, with Midhurst on the ball.

A draw in this game would put Petersfield last in the pool on tries scored. Petersfield dug in, skillfully turned over the opposition and played several phases of quick ball rugby, eventually leading to a swan-dive try from Bryn at the critical time as Petersfield won 1-0 and won pool two as well.

Pool two was where the defensive strength was, as borne out by the close scorelines. Bryn, Archie and Oscar tackled hard, but the real excitement was the way the ball was moved around between the whole team and quickly recycled from the breakdowns.

With the final points being totted up, Petersfield won both pools, Shoreham came second in both, and Midhurst third. With this result, it was decided that Petersfield had won the day and the tournament was ended at this stage.

What was exceptional was the lack of requirement to coach from the sidelines. The teams worked harmoniously and produced phase after phase of quick and skilful rugby.