U11 Falcons beat Ruislip

Ruislip visited Finchley on Sunday and we were very much looking forward to the games as, due to the snow and Christmas, it was the first competitive game since the Grasshoppers festival at the end of October. We remembered Ruislip from last year where we won one and lost one and were also conscious that they drew with Saracens in the Bowl Final at the Middlesex championship last season; so we knew we'd be in for some tough games.

We played behind the pitches to avoid the mud, but it did mean there was a slope down the pitch. In the first game the Falcons played into the wind and up the slope during the first half. However, that didn't seem to bother the boys and they produced some outstanding rugby. The forwards played tight, aggressive rugby and the backs ran with the ball and passed extremely well. Cameron played his usual combative game in the forwards which saw him score two tries before half time, allowing Finchley to turn around 10-0 up (there were no conversions due to the lack of posts!).

The second half saw Finchley continue with their excellent rugby with tries to William and Mackenzie. Ruislip managed to score at the end of the game to see a final score of Finchley 20 - Ruilsip 5.

The second game saw Ruilsip come out much more aggressively and there were some real tussles - both on and off the ball! Cameron scored another try in the first half, before Joseph GD finished off a wonderful try in the second half to give Finchley a 10-0 win. Unfortunately the game saw one of the Ruilsip boys hurt his ankle badly and have to be taken away in an ambulance. We hope the injury wasn't too serious and he makes a speedy recovery.

Overall, the Finchley performance was outstanding in both games - easily the best rugby the team have played this season. This was remarkable given the very limited time the boys have spent on the rugby field over the past two months. The forwards were excellent, with Cameron and William to the fore, and the backs attacked and defended superbly. Well done!