Under 10s
Arriving to blue skies, our intrepid U10s faced the truly bizarre prospect of the ground being almost too hard for studs (in mid October!) during their first round of matches. The competition was fierce, and everyone's players certainly felt the effect of the hard ground during the first phases of contact.

We were able to field two extremely strong teams - with a fantastic blend of experience, power and pace. Once again, all our players demonstrated the true spirit of rugby - showing excellent determination and brilliant sportsmanship.

A special mention should go to Ben & Xavi, playing in their first festivals for H&B - we are sure it will be the first of many, you did brilliantly! It would also be amiss to not mention Edward, who unknown to everyone at the time had managed to fracture his wrist playing football on the Saturday but went on to play 3.5 games of rugby the following day! It will be a few weeks before we see him on the pitch again - but what a warrior and we are sure he'll come back even stronger.

Of course, the weather couldn't hold for the whole festival - and the last game was played under lashing rain! Presumably this heralds the beginning of the 'proper' rugby season and a return to the mud baths we have all come to expect.

We are extremely proud of all the players - they once again matched up brilliantly against every team they faced and left an incredibly positive impression of themselves and the club.

Under 11s
Eastbourne Festival, the 2nd one of the season for our rebooted U11s. The first match was against Uckfield, one of the best clubs at our age group. We kept up admirably in the first half working hard, before Uckfield's experience allowed them to pull away in the second half.

The next match was Crawley, and it was a great moment for our team. We went behind early but fought and fought against a more similarly matched side. The team could sense a win was possible and made their tackles count. There was some really strong direct running and the desire was there to see from them all. The parents were certainly overexcited. For the team to win so early in their development was well deserved. They don't have much of a right top be winning games yet so this shows their potential and spirit, whilst we've just had the most productive 2 training sessions I have seen in 3 years, so well done them!

The next match was against Haywards Heath, an excellent side and we started poorly. However, a couple of big hits on their better players saw our confidence grow and their willingness to keep going and fight for each other was impressive. This led to a great team try, similar to the one scored against Uckfield. Passing down the line is improving and we now have pace on both wings. Camaraderie is not a problem this year, all the players seem to get on. Our large influx of players who are all new, to not just the club but rugby, have settled quickly, helped by being readily welcomed by the existing squad.

The rain kicked in for the last game, the grudge match against a strong Eastbourne team. We lost, but they kept going and their fitness has really come on since the last festival. Everyone went home happy and they should all be mega proud of themselves and their teammates.