Hornets triumph in their own festival

HORNETS Under-8s section of the Hornets Festival started under a grey sky.

The home side entered two teams, Amber and Black, and were joined by teams from Abertillery, Bracknell, Ivybridge, Keynsham, Old Halesonians and Swindon.

The pool games kicked off with Hornets Amber v Abertillery. Bracknell topped pool one with Hornets Black edging pool two on tries scored from Ivybridge, after an earlier 5-5 draw between the teams.

In the first of the Plate semi-finals, Keynsham overcame Old Halesonians, while in the other semi, Hornets Amber unfortunately missed out on an appearance in the final after a low-scoring game against Swindon.

Keynsham overcame Swindon, last year’s runners-up in the Plate final, winning 5-3.

In the cup competition, Bracknell, with a majority of players who won the Under-7s festival last year, beat Ivybridge in the first semi and Hornets Black hung on to beat Abertillery by a single score in the second semi.

The last game of the day was the cup final between Bracknell and Hornets Black and with the scores tied at 4-4 at half-time, it was all down to the final half, to which Hornets made a blistering start and take a 7-4 lead, which despite their best efforts, Bracknell could not overcome as Hornets won 8-5.

The Under-12s took part in their annual festival in excellent, but sometimes wet conditions.

This year, the tournament consisted of six sides in the age group, each playing the other once with the group winner deemed the overall winner.

Hornets’ opposition came from Keynsham (two sides), Swindon, Abertillery and St Josephs. Hornets won two, lost two and drew the other game. The two losses came against Keynsham and Abertillery, who both finished ahead of Hornets.

Try scorers were Cort and Keelan (2) in their two wins, but the whole team put in a lot of effort, especially in the last game against the bigger Abertillery forwards. Hornets finished third and the whole team were awarded medals.

The Under-10s entered one team of 10 players, which included Alfie, Robson, Tom, Daniel, Alexandra, Sam, James, Kade, Sam C and Ellis.

The squad played a total of six games against Swindon, Ivybridge, Abertillery, Keynsham, and Old Halesonians’ squad of two teams.

The team played some impressive rugby throughout the festival, managing to score eight tries and put in some strong tackles with some great runs and passes. All games were close and made for some exciting matches.

Under-13s No 8 Ayden Chenoweth scored five tries against touring team Bridgend Athletic to make it 10 tries in two games.

Hornets adapted to the sticky conditions well to play some good rugby against a strong Welsh team. Hornets eventually broke the deadlock scoring a quick double, Bridgend responded with a fine try of their own, before Hornets took control of the first-half by scoring two more tries.

The visitors started the second half well and scored two tries to get within one score, but Hornets dominated the remainder of the game, scoring five unanswered tries for a final score of 51-15.

Hornets try scores: Chenoweth (5), Luke Collins (2), Owen Brake and Oscar Browne. Charlie Fairhurst added two conversions and Bradley Lucas one.

A combined Under-16 and 17 side travelled to play Old Reds in the reversal of a fixture earlier in the season.

On that occasion, Hornets were well beaten, but the introduction of a new coaching structure ahead of next season’s Colts appears to be paying early dividends.

Head coach Andy Fido, supported by Ian Long and James Collings, ensured the team got off to a good start. Fine work from the breakdown enabled Curtis Higgins to crash over in the corner for the first score. Jack Osborne scored and converted the second try shortly afterwards.

The forwards provided a solid platform for scrum-half Mike Long to feed the back line throughout the game, and winger Jake Swain gave Hornets a 17-0 half-time lead.

The second half was evenly contested and Old Reds finally broke through the dogged defence to score their only points, before a fine solo try by Byron Marriott, converted by Osborne completed the 24-5 scoreline.

Photo: Hornets Under-12s scrum in action against Swindon.

WESTON Under-14s welcomed Thornbury Broncos to the Rec hoping to avenge a narrow defeat they suffered earlier in the season.

The game started at a lively pace with Weston dominating possession and kept out by a strong Thornbury defence.

Weston scored first when Bilciurescu and Bamsey made inroads, allowing Archie Tilsley to score wide out, Bamsey adding a fine touchline conversion.

Just before half-time, Eddie Davies made a fine 30-metre break to score under the posts, Bamsey adding the extras for a score of 14-0 to Weston.

After the break, Weston showed real determination with Tom Hughes, Kieran Hyde and Josh Gardner taking the game to the Broncos, before Bamsey powered under the posts from 15 metres, adding the extras himself.

Broncos added a superb try of their own, but Weston were to have the last word. Some great full-back play and counter attacking from Brandon Charlton, Jake Middleton made a scorching break to score to make the final scores 26-5.

Later in the day, the six Weston lads who had been selected in the Sedgemoor Buccaneers initial 30-man training squad, were informed they had all been included in the final 22 for the upcoming Somerset Super Six tournament to be held at Burnham on Sunday.

The boys selected are George Bamsey, Jack Howard, Josh Gardne , Tom Hughes, Eddie Davies and Jake Middleton.