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SENIOR RUGBY
After a rest week for our senior teams, all three were back in action last weekend. First up, our 1XV took on local rivals Crawley at home. Would there be a shock, or would G’s prevail? Click here to find out: Match report

Both our 2’s and Women played away to very strong opposition in Haywards Heath and Worthing respectively. HH’s flyhalf having recently been picked for Scotland U20’s!! The boys hung in there, but still were on the end of a 45 - 5 defeat. Our Ladies gave it everything, but Worthing were too strong on the day.

Next Saturday sees our 1XV taking on stern opposition as they travel to Ditchling, while our 2’s host Crowborough. On Sunday, our ladies also play Crowborough, this time a friendly at Crowborough.

JUNIOR RUGBY
This weekend saw all of our junior sections on the road, spread right across the county for the annual Sussex Minis Festival. From Haywards Heath to Chichester, via Crowborough, Lewes and Horsham, East Grinstead was very well represented wherever you looked.

The U11s were in action at Horsham, the U10s travelled to Lewes, the U9s to Crowborough, the U8s to Chichester and the U7s to Haywards Heath. A busy day of rugby and plenty of miles clocked up by our ever-supportive parents — although at least this time the journeys were made in dry conditions for a change! There were some fantastic performances across all age groups, with plenty of effort, teamwork and skill on display. Full reports from each section are included below.

U11s Report – Sussex Minis Festival, Horsham
Sunshine is finally becoming the norm — although Sunday did its best to remind us it’s still early spring with a cold and foggy start. Once it cleared though, conditions were ideal and the U11s built on last week’s strong showing at Hove by stepping things up another gear.

The first match against Crawley set the tone. From the outset, the team were on the front foot, with strong running, confident passing and some excellent tackling. It quickly became one-way traffic, with East Grinstead running out convincing winners. Match two against Hove provided a much sterner test. In a slightly uncharacteristic spell, we found ourselves getting shoved off a few rucks and went 1–0 down. Credit to the boys though — they rallied strongly, regrouped and worked their way back into the game to level things up. There was even a moment that looked like it might seal the win, only for a try to be disallowed (a decision still under friendly debate on the sidelines!). A draw was probably a fair reflection in a tight contest.

After some words (and some “works ons”) between games, the team went into the third match against a strong Horsham side with renewed focus. It was another close game, but this time the composure and structure shone through. Some excellent passages of play and solid defence saw East Grinstead edge it and come out on top. The final match against a well-organised and very capable Chichester side looked on paper like it would be another tight affair. Instead, it turned into arguably the performance of the day. The offloading game clicked, the ball was moved wide effectively (much to the delight of the coaches!), and the attacking shape really came together. Three well-worked tries and a strong all-round display saw the team run out comfortable winners.

Across the day, the coaches were really pleased with the effort and performance levels. Every player worked hard and contributed. There were the usual strong carries from Erikas, Ethan, Bradley and Finley, while Thomas and Ollie ran some excellent outside lines. It was great to see Harry looping to offer support, and our “junior Boks”, Sam and Mattie, made some brilliant breaks. Defensively, Jack is becoming the star of the defensive charge. Always 1st of the line and super tenacious and there were big hits going in across the board, but a special mention has to go to Seb for an outstanding tackling performance — making at least five try-saving tackles, both head-on and tracking back. A huge effort that didn’t go unnoticed.

A great day of rugby all round. Thanks to Horsham for their hospitality and excellent organisation and to our parents, as always, for their brilliant support on the sidelines. Onwards to the Brighton festival next week.

U10s
It was a truly epic weekend of rugby action for the mighty U10s. On the Friday we hosted 60 players from Horsham, Burgess Hill and Crawley, along with a Barbarian side, for our second ever Floodlit mini-festival, ‘My Friday Night Rocks’. Friday Night Lights has become the most keenly anticipated fixture of the season for us. After a rock music warm up, our very excited players ran out to ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ by Guns N Roses between two spark fountains with rockets and bangers illuminating the night sky. It was proper Prem Rugby entrance, as some of the kids pointed out.

What followed was three fast-paced and fiercely contested games with musical interludes from Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age and Oasis blasting out in between matches. At the end of the evening the players formed a tunnel to clap each other off the pitch before heading to the clubhouse for food, medals and a ‘player of the tournament’ award for each team. It was a fantastic evening and we’re already planning another event for next season!

On Sunday, 28 of our players then headed to the Sussex Minis Festival at Lewes. It was a beautiful sunny day once the mist cleared and the players were most definitely fired up to put a decent shift in. Over 5 matches the progress in our game play was clear to see. Ruck speed increased, passes were more purposeful, offloads more timely and there were some absolutely monster shots going in. A great day was had by all with plenty to build on at Brighton on Sunday.

U9 - Crowborough
East Grinstead RFC U9s headed over to a sunny Crowborough RFC for the annual Sussex rugby festival, and it was a great setting for a full day of rugby. As always, the group travelled well. One big squad split into three teams, which gave everyone plenty of game time.

From the first games, the intent was clear. They got stuck in, carried the ball hard, and defended well. There were some big big tackles going in, but more importantly, they were working for each other. What stood out most was how well they stuck to what we’ve been working on. When they kept their structure, the space opened up and the rugby flowed. Some of the tries scored came from proper team play, not just individual moments. Each of the three teams had strong spells and tested themselves against some very good opposition. There were a few tough moments as well but their response to those moments was spot on. Heads stayed up, effort didn’t drop, and they went again.

Coach Gareth said, “Really proud of the teams today. They stuck to their structure and played for each other. When they do that, the rugby takes care of itself. You could see the progress across all three teams. Plenty of good stuff out there and loads to build on. Coaches Ky, James, Kyle and Tim all felt the same. Proud of the effort, attitude and how the whole squad represented the club. Well done U9s”

U7 - Haywards Heath
This weekend we proudly entered four teams to the Sussex minis U7s at Haywards Heath RFC. It was a fantastically organised tournament with 18 clubs and 52 teams descending en masse to the lovely village of Cuckfield. It was a crisp start to the morning but the sizzling rugby soon warmed us up. For East Grinstead, this has been our fourth week of consecutive matches and/or festivals and this was without doubt our best display of the season.

Rugby can be a physical game and even at U7s this can sometimes not be avoided - our passing warmup resulted in our first injury of the day, where Oliver lost his wobbly tooth after a shocking pass from his coach (who will go unnamed). That did not hold Oliver or the team back as they went on to play some superb rugby - we have really found our groove, with slick handling and interplay alongside some wonderful try- scoring. On the less glamorous side of the game, our defence has also come on in leaps and bounds, with great effort, alignment and organisation - the sort of tackling that would be been very welcome in England’s Six Nations campaign! All in all, it was a fantastic morning where the coaches and parents could not be prouder of this team.

This coming Sunday, we return to East Grinstead to continue building on this progress, with two more festivals ahead to round off what is shaping up to be a fantastic season. Looking ahead, next weekend sees the U10s and U11s heading to Brighton, while the rest of the junior sections return to home turf. Let’s hope the recent dry spell continues as I think we all agree that rugby in the sunshine is just that wee bit more enjoyable for both players and spectators!

INTERMEDIATE RUGBY
EGRFC Colts vs Eastbourne
Hopes were high for Gs to consolidate their 2nd position in the league with a win over an Eastbourne team that were lying low in the table and had shipped plenty of points to us earlier in the season. So down to the seaside we went with finally some glorious sunshine to enjoy – isn’t rugby much nicer when there isn’t a torrential downpour to contend with?!

After 15 minutes all was going swimmingly, with G’s 21-0 up courtesy of some sublime running rugby! This match saw the return of several senior colts and their impact was soon seen with Freddie scoring from close range and Tom K showing why he wants to be a winger with some outstanding back play leading to a fine try under the sticks. Sadly for G’s and the blood pressure of the coaches, that was the best we saw of the team for the rest of the game….

Eastbourne were clearly buoyed by the return of a couple of their stronger players and quickly realised where their strengths lay. A dominant lineout saw them retain possession and their centres and wingers barely saw the ball for the rest of the game as their pack hit it up time and again, leading to inevitable penalties which moved them down the pitch. But for the inability of their 10 to kick his goals they would have been level at half time but as it was Gs went into the break 21-15 up but the momentum definitely with Eastbourne. And so the second half continued. It was a scrappy affair, with neither team playing much expansive rugby. The penalty count against G’s mounted up leading to an inevitable yellow card. Eastbourne capitalised on the numerical advantage, scoring two more tries giving them the lead for the first time.

Finally G’s got some possession and after a break through the middle by Conor we crashed over to bring some calm to proceedings and took back the lead. At 28-25 up with only 5 mins or so to play all we had to do was to stay level headed, not give them the ball and see the game out. Which sadly proved too much for the lads as Eastbourne continued to play the same brand of rugby as they’d done all day with their scrum half finally picking from a ruck to go over and win it for them. Final score was a 28-32 loss.

The boys were understandably disappointed, but we came away with 2 bonus points which isn’t to be sniffed at and a real understanding of where they went wrong. I suspect tackle height discipline and lineout practice may be on the agenda at training this week….

We now go into the last game of the season away to Heathfield knowing a win will ensure we remain 2nd in the league and give a good send off to the senior lads before they all head up to the dizzy heights of 1st & 2nd XV rugby next season!

U16’s
Our U16’s travelled to local rivals, Crowborough on Sunday hoping to continue their fine run of form. Unfortunately, it was a bridge too far as the home team ran out 34 - 12 winners.

ANYA GERAGHTY
Anya played for G’s Ladies against Worthing on Sunday. Her journey started at EGRFC as a junior and later she honed her skills with G’s Touch Rugby (an important and very valuable part of her rugby development). She made it to the RFU PDG, currently is captain of Worthing College and this week led the team out at Twickenham against Hartbury in the final of the national school league woman’s final.

It all started at EGRFC and the dedicated support of its volunteer coaches and the Touch Rugby community. Well done Anya!!

GIVE GIRLS RUGBY A GO
Free introduction to rugby sessions for girls aged 8-12.
Come and give rugby a go over 4 Wednesday evenings, 5.45 - 7pm on 25th March, 1st, 8th, and 15th April.

Email: girls@egrfc.com for more info or to book a place.

GIRLS TOUCH RUGBY
Girls, come along to our fun and relaxed touch rugby sessions starting on Friday 24th April! All ages and abilities welcome. Absolutely no experience necessary.
Come to the club on a Friday evening at 6pm for an hour and have a ball!!!

For more information please email Julie at: events@egrfc.com

LAST LEAGUE LUNCH
Our last league pre-match lunch of the season is on Saturday 18th April before the visit of Seaford. Get this in the diary as it will be a cracker!! More information will follow soon.

AGM
Get Friday 17th July in your diary.
We will meet at 7pm to vote in our officials and celebrate another season at our fantastic club.

OTHER NEWS
If you have any news about any aspect of our rugby family here at East Grinstead, get involved and email m.marriott@btconnect.com. See you next week!!