The day started off being a bit nippy and breezy but after a while the autumn sun came out and the breeze dropped, it was starting to look like a good day.

The boys and coaches were a bit apprehensive going into a festival with no prior match experience against teams that we had not come up against before so did not know what to expect, this was to be the first time to see if the training in what we had carried out in the earlier sessions teaching the boys the lessons of the ruck, maul and scrum had paid off.

After a quick training session blowing the cob webs away and going over what we had taught them do it was straight into the fire, it started well against Blackheath the boys winning 4-2 it was a good game to start off with and put the boys in good spirits, up next Eton Manor this was going to be a hard game as half the players looked like U12's due to size but with determination the boys were getting them over but were loosing the ball due to Eton's skill set as they were straight in and rucking over or ripping the ball from the boys and it ended 4-0 the boys were a bit deflated but it was a learning curve they knew what had to be done and build on it.

After a quick drink the boys were back on the pitch this time against Wanstead the boys knew what had to be done and how they were going to execute it and went out to win, it was another hard but close game the boys were rucking with confidence now and tackling them like lions we went on to win

It did not feel like the festival organisers wanted Braintree to replenish as within a couple of minutes the boys were back up this time against Enfield Ignations i new this was going to be a hard match as i had just refereed them against Eton Manor and i spent more time giving free passes for them handing off and making high tackles than actually playing the game, we let the referee know at the beginning of the match hoping this would curb it, but it did not the boys were taking some hard knocks, the boys battled on and scored a couple of quick tries but Enfield came back by ripping the ball in the ruck and then going on to score , Braintree came back to make one final push but lost it on a turnover out of the scrum Enfield went o to score ending in 3-2 .

It was much the same against Chestnut in the final game but this time Braintree had the winning hand ending it with a win 3-2.

it was a hard first festival with both the coaches and the boys learning a lot, considering we only had a squad of 12 out of 23 and a small few that had never played in a festival enviroment the boys done really well, they all gelled and worked as a team, but the main pleasure for both parents and coaches was seeing the boys play fair and to the rules and not letting the misguidance of other teams sway the way they played.

At the end of it the boys had learnt a lot and their confidence had rocketed when seeing that no matter how big your opponent is, they will still hit the ground when tackled either by one or two.

Well done Braintree U10's keep up the good work