In fine sunny weather, and after a tour of the grounds of Eltham College (they have more than one set of tennis courts....), we arrived pitch-side in time for the 9.30 meet. Worryingly there were only four Beckenham boys there, but the others soon arrived along with the balls so warm ups could start. We were in a group with some old foes – Bromley, Dartfordians, Old Alleynians & Sevenoaks.

The first game saw us defend the heavy slope advantage against Bromley. They attacked from the off, but the boys held firm showing great resilience, keeping shape, position and delivering some crunching tackles all over the pitch.

Bromley scored first and perhaps should have scored another but dropped the ball when under pressure from at least three of our boys. Oscar came flying-in from nowhere to put in a last-ditch tackle when another Bromley try had looked a certainty. That's not to say we didn't attack, and we did indeed score a try of our own when Rocco got those legs pumping up the hill and drove to the try-line. One all at half time. The slope was ours in the second half and wave after wave of attacks went in. We deservedly took the lead through a jinking run from Oliver. Unfortunately we didn't hold on and Bromley forced the equaliser and the game finished 2-2. A great first game from the boys, who produced an improved effort and commitment in the tackle.

There was an hour's wait until the second match against Dartfordians, so it gave the coaches some time to work their magic and teach the boys some new skills to help them adapt to festival rugby. The boys practised "Clearing Out the Tackle", and "Driving Over". While Alleynians beat Dartford 3-2, Jim refereed a very tight match between Sevenoaks and Bromley. The match ended something like 114–0, but Jim being the kind fellow he is, marked the score at 10-0. Needless to say, Sevenoaks were frighteningly brilliant.

The second match started with us steaming downhill and we burst into a 2-0 lead with Alexander scoring both tries. On each occasion he bulldozed his way through and Dartford could simply not stop him. We continued to dominate the game and they barely even got into our half, let alone anywhere near the try-line. Unfortunately we didn't "assert our dominance" as much as we perhaps should have done, and Dartford came storming back down the slope in the second half to score two tries of their own and this game finished 2-2 as well.

So well over an hour into the tournament we were still unbeaten and playing unbelievably well. Other scores were Sevenoaks 2 Alleynians 0, and then Dartford and Bromley shared a 1-1 draw. Next match up was the ones the boys had been waiting for, Sevenoaks….

If I said this match finished 2-2 as well I am sure you would be suitably impressed. Unfortunately the only 2-2 scoreline I could come up with was injuries, as both Rocco and Oscar had to come off along with two Sevenoaks boys leaving the pitch in floods of tears. The actual match finished 5-0 to Sevenoaks, but this really doesn't show the true picture. It was a fiercely contested match against a very strong side who are probably the best side the boys will face all season. As in the previous games, some brilliant tackles and runs from all our boys.

Last up was Old Alleynians. The other final scores meant that we needed to win our last game by several tries to have any chance of finishing second in the table. Sadly this was just beyond us, and again the result did not truly match the performance as Old A's won 2-0. Oliver had to be carried from the field in this one with a knee injury, and we all hope it is nothing serious.

So at about 2.30, our group ended up

Sevenoaks P4, W5, L0, TS 19, TA 0, Position 1
Old Alleyanians P4, W2, D1, L1, TS 10, TA 4, Position 2
Old Dartfordians P4, W1, D1, L2, TS 6, TA 11, Position 3
BECKENHAM P4, W0, D2, L2, TS 4, TA 11, Position 4
Bromley P4, W0, D1, L3, TS 2, TA 15, Position 5

Each and every one of the boys had played some part in a fine performance at our first Festival of the season. So well done Sammy, Braiden, Oscar, Joe, Joseph, Eamonn, Alexander, Rocco, Scott, Adam, Oliver and Miles!!!