This same fixture last year could not have been more different; in the weather, if not the rugby. Under gloriously blue skies and a baking October sun, H&B U12s travelled up to Haywards Heath for the first tournament fixture in the season. Given a tough draw against two very difficult sides (Chichester and Hove), and two well-drilled teams (Uckfield and Crawley), H&B did not have an easy pool to compete in.

The first game was against Crawley; a team we play against very rarely, but who usually have a strong squad to field. H&B worked hard in the fist half; competing well against the North Sussex side, but eventually falling prey to a ball spun wide and a score from the opposition. H&B played the entire half without a Number 8 (whose studs needed changing). A difficult situation, and the ref did not spot this, or pause play to let the player back on. In the second half, the different was noticeable. H&B scrums were more powerful, and the extra man provided much needed cover. A strong set of running and recycling through H&B hands gave Tommy Russell a simple touch-down to score in the corner. H&B pressure until the final whistle meant that Crawley escaped with a 1 - 1 draw.

In the second match, H&B faced a Chichester side whose rugby would have graced a larger pitch and audience. Excellent running lines and passing, with tackling all over the field meant that H&B's more powerful scrums didn't have the same impact as before. Some hard defence was undone by flimsy tackling which gifted Chichester the majority of their tries in a 6 - 0 victory.

In the third match, H&B had some scores to settle against old foes Uckfield. Fired up by some great rucking and ball-carrying from Freddie, Harry, Owain, Chandler and Tom P, H&B defended with great tackling from George H-S, Tommy and Stuart Chisholm. However, with the game score-less, Uckfield were awarded a penalty close to the H&B line on the last play of the match. A quick tap and jink through the sleepy defence allowed Uckfield to record a 1 - 0 win. Desperately disappointing for the H&B lads, who'd played hard and deserved better.

The final match proved to be another very difficult game to contain, and Hove's extremely fast game-play meant that H&B had to work extra hard in slowing the ball to keep pace. Once more, H&B were undone by some sloppy defending. The outstanding bright spark from this match was the extraordinary tackle made by Ronnie Doorey-Palmer to deny a superb run from a Hove winger who thought he was destined to score. He didn't. 6 - 0 was the final score to Hove.

Individually, there were some excellent performances, with stand-out play from Stuart Chisholm at full-back (his first competitive match for the club), also Ronnie and Tommy in the backs, and from Freddie and a number of other forwards. Man of the match was awarded to George Howard-Smith for some brave tackling, and ball-ripping skills throughout all 4 matches.

Team was:

1. Max Holmes / Stephen Beach
2. Freddie Simes / Lee Hopkins
3. Chandler Buckingham
4. Owain Lusted
5. Tom Powell
8. Harry Samra
9. Tom Hirst
10. Ronnie Doorey-Palmer
11. Ashley Hills
12. George Howard-Smith
13. Tommy Russell
14. Gabriel Balde / Ben Gateley
15. Stuart Chisholm