HORNETS Under-11s celebrated their season with an awards presentation.

HORNETS Under-11s celebrated their season with an awards presentation.

The team had an excellent year, scoring over 700 points in all competitive matches against a wide variety of local, touring and foreign teams.

The players had a great year with debuts for William Kennet, Scott

Beeching and Billy Kirk who all managed to score tries in what was a new sport for them.

William Brimble and Keenan Harvey made successful returns to the side and William Hillman played consistent rugby all year. Dan Murtagh improved dramatically this year as his confidence grew.

The lads voted for their player of the year and the serious contenders were: Fen Acreman, Oliver Coppage, Tom Townsend and Sam Aplin, but the winner was Ryan Heeney.

The next category voted for was the coach's player of the year. This went to Leon Counsell, who just edged out Ashley Locker. The final award went to Jacob Hill for the most improved player of the year. Players who ran Jacob close were Josh Hooper and Billy Phillips.

The Under-17s presentation dinner was attended by over 70 people. The high points of the season were the winning of the Somerset Cup, beating Bridgwater 40-0 in the final, and Bristol Combination Trophy, beating Walcot 27-0 in the final.

Head coach Andy Francis praised the players for their efforts in a season disjointed by the weather. During November, December and January only two matches the semi-final and the final of the Combination Trophy were possible and training was limited, so to win the final after six weeks of inactivity was a credit to the players.

During the main season the team played 18 games, winning 16 and losing two, scoring 661 point and conceding 127. Andy Francis commented that the disruption in fixtures meant that the team never really got into a consistent pattern until the last few games of the season, however when the side did put it all together they played some superb rugby, highlighting the game against Dursley, where they scored 89 points and played with such high skill from one to 15, that any opposition team would have struggled to cope with.

The biggest disappointment of the season was narrowly losing to Cheltenham by four points in a game that even Cheltenham said Hornets should have won.

A squad of 31 players was maintained through the season, which was always a difficult balance with so few games, but the strength in depth of this squad was demonstrated when they went to Wells in the Somerset Cup quarter-final with 14 players out injured and still managed to win by 34 point to 7 against a well drilled side.

Dexter Nettleton was given the players' player and the supporters' awards; Jason Makepeace, in his first season, was most improved player; and Chris Francis won the coaches' award. The final award was given to Matt Cornish for his playing contribution to the side over the past 10 years.

The team would like to thank all their sponsors and all who helped during the season. The side is looking forward to replicating their success in the Colts and would be happy to welcome any new players.