After a tiring second half of what has been a successful season for the Finchley U12's, today was the big day we had been waiting for - the Middlesex County Championship Finals.

At the beginning of the season, we entered our A team into the Middlesex County B group after reviewing how the team had been performing. It appears a lot of other clubs had the same idea as there were 21 teams entered into the B group over all.

The first round matches away at Bank of England saw us against Bank of England and Teddington B. After a very close game against Bank of England, where we didn't play with our normal fluidity, we came away with a narrow 7 point to 5 win after a single try to Finn Clarke and the conversion by Fintan Shaw. The second game against Teddington B, in which we played better, still showed that we were making it hard work for ourselves to convert possession and territory into points. However we persevered and won 14-7 with both tries and conversions to Fintan Shaw.

Round 2 saw us at home against London Scottish and London Welsh B. Against the Welsh we were very evenly matched making it difficult to break them down. Cold December conditions and a heavy ground seemed to sap the concentration and energy of Finchley and the result was a 7-7 draw with the only try and conversion to Fintan Shaw. The second match against London Scottish was very much the same with both sides cancelling each other out with strong defense and a never say die attitude. Another 7-7 draw with the only try going to Jonah Woodforde and the conversion again to Fintan Shaw. These two matches were definitely an opportunity lost as we had played better previously, especially in attack but we did not seem to "click".

Round 3 saw us traveling to Rosslyn Park in the snow (thankfully playing on a 4G pitch) to play Harrow, whom we had comfortably beaten already this season, and Rosslyn Park B2 (their second B team). The first game against Harrow was an easy match where we ran out easy 57-10 winners with tries to Alex Taylor, Archie Mullen, Daisuke Morimoto, Finn Clarke (2), Fintan Shaw (2), Jared Lewis and Jasper Edwards with Fintan Shaw kicking 6 conversions. The second game was also a comfortable win, beating Rosslyn Park B2 34-14 with tries to Finn Clarke, Jared Lewis, Jasper Edwards, Jonah Woodforde, Matthew Gregson and Patrick Lynch with Fintan Shaw kicking 2 conversions.

Fast forward to today's finals...

Our results in the rounds saw us in 5th place out of 21 teams in the B group. Frustratingly both Bank of England and Hampstead, teams we have beaten this season, were narrowly above us in the table due to their accumulation of try scoring and losing bonus points in their round matches, despite Finchley not losing a game.

This meant that as the final placings were divided into groups of four, Finchley went into the Middlesex County Finals in the second group of four (the Bowl competition) with the top group of four playing for the shield and plate. Despite a couple of last minute injuries to Daisuke Morimoto and Patrick Lynch preventing them playing, we went full of confidence.

Our first game at the finals was the semi-final of the Bowl competition against Regents Park Royals A, a team whom we had already beaten this season. Despite a slow start (something of a Finchley disease), we ran out comfortable winners 28-0 with three tries and three conversions to Fintan Shaw and 1 try and a conversion to Jared Lewis. The second half was especially pleasing in the way we dominated the match and did not let them score.

The second game was the final of the Bowl competition against London Welsh B, one of the teams that we drew against in round two of the competition. We had by now lost another two players in the warm up, Irah Spanswick-Smith losing his toenail in the warm up and Shane Murphy losing his mouth guard somewhere between the pitches... talk about timing...

However this game was a different story to the round 2 match. Finchley played extremely well and battled London Welsh B toe to toe (sorry Irah). We tackled, rucked, mauled and ran hard with a much lower error count compared to the first match. Whilst the forward battle was mostly even in terms of possession and territory - apart from team captain Archie Mullen leading by example and really making a nuisance of himself by disrupting the London Welsh B team at every opportunity, our backline really shone and caused the Welsh no end of problems. A fairly even first half ended with Finchley one try and conversion up, both scored by Fintan Shaw.

The second half started with the instructions from the coaches to run more direct straight lines and it paid off. All the players followed Archie and Jared's example of a pressure defense, disrupting the Welsh before they could get any rhythm going. Strong carries from most of the team, forwards and backs equally, ensured that we were playing the majority of the game in the Welsh half and it was only a matter of time before we would convert pressure into points. Sure enough, our defense again led to a Welsh error, turnover and a great try by Finn Clarke with Fintan Shaw kicking the conversion. Despite a couple of late attempts by Welsh to come back into the game, Finchley held them out comfortably and won the game 14-0. Seeing them play with that confidence was very pleasing.

So our first foray into league style rugby saw us take out the U12B Middlesex County Bowl trophy, which as you will see by the photos, was a result that the team enjoyed.

The coaches are especially pleased for a number of reasons; the fact that the majority of our forwards are brand new to rugby this season, it has been a steep learning curve for them but we are really pleased by how they have all responded. Secondly we have seen how the concentration and application of the entire squad has improved and lastly we are really pleased by the fact that they are beginning to show a "never say die attitude" in matches. This will take them a long way as it is not about the size of the dog in the fight but about the size of the fight in the dog (apologies for the cliche).

It has been a tough road with most of the squad playing in at least 17 competitive matches this season so far with the Eton Manor and Camber Sands festivals to come. It has been a test of their fitness, endurance, toughness and above all their attitude and we are pleased that they have come through to gain such a great result.

Well done guys.

Ian Hunter