Under 9s progress to Sussex finals day

Horsham U9s added to their silverware collection with the Lions winning their section of the West Sussex festival at Haywards Heath and the Tigers winning the salver for fourth-placed teams.

The Lions continued their good season with a successful trip to the West Sussex Minis Festival. A combination of strong defence and direct running saw the Lions emerge victorious and qualify for the Sussex Finals on 12 April 2015.

They played four teams in their qualifying group, winning three and drawing one then going through on a greater number of tries scored. The boys enjoyed some emphatic victories on their way with 5-0 against Guernsey, 5-1 against Hove, 7-0 against Crawley before the all important tie against the home team. Haywards Heath took the early lead, outplaying the Horsham Lions in most areas of the game, and were 3-1 up at half-time. The Lions however responded to this stern test and managed to get their game back together in the second half, drawing level 3-3 to share the honours.

They came up against Shoreham in the final and, although they didn't play at their best, they did enough to win 4-2 and were crowned the winners.

The Lions squad consisted of Harry Bostock, Daniel Brand, Oliver Colombo, Nathan Coward, Sam Gordon, Liam Hughes, James ‘Dark’ Knight, Morgan Purnell, Finlay Rutherford, Tom Sanders, Mason Taylor and Sam Thurston.

The Tigers performed creditably against strong opposition, eventually winning the salver play-off for the teams that finished fourth in their pool.

They started off with a competitive performance against Shoreham A, finally losing 4-2 to the eventual pool winners and overall runners-up. This was followed by a comfortable 5-3 win against Guernsey B and a closely fought 1-1 draw with Hove B. They finished the pool with a heavy 7-1 defeat against a very strong-looking Haywards Heath B team.

The Tigers fourth place play-off was against Guernsey A and they produced their best rugby of the day, with strong running and good tackling leading to a 4-2 win.

The Tigers squad consisted of Finlay Conway, Jolyon Crook, William Gibbons-Burroughs, James ‘Light’ Knight, Jack Marks, Ben Mason, Brandon Masters, Rhys Merola, George Rimer, Ethan Stoner-Gray and Aaron West.