On Saturday 5th December the London Irish Community Team hosted their second Eteach Cup MatchDay festival of the season with the U8 age group at The Oratory School, Woodcote, Reading.
11 teams took part in the fun style TAG rugby tournament all competing for the chance to play on the pitch at half time and be crowned Eteach Champions!
Squads from Alton, Bracknell (Team One and Team Two), Farnham, Oxford (Green Team and White Team), London Irish Amateurs (Team One and Team Two), Wootten Bassett, Overton and Tadley Tigers all put on a fantastic display of tag rugby as they played against each other in the pool stages of the competition. The scoring system was based on the Guinness Premiership where teams were awarded four points for a win, 2 points for a draw. After over an hour and a half of playing, the scores were totted up and the results announced. Topping Pool One were Oxford Green’s and holding the number one spot for Pool Two were Bracknell 1. It would be these two teams who would face each other in the final in front of thousands of rugby fans !The Fair Play Awards went to London Irish Amateurs 1, Wootton Bassett and Tadley Tigers. All three teams showed fantastic levels of sportsmanship and respect for the referee.
After the morning’s excitement everyone then headed over to the Princess Suite at the Madejski Stadium for a special presentation with Exiles stars Delon Armitage and Andy Perry. Each team met both players, got autographs and had their photo taken with them before making their way over to the South Stand ready for the game against Worcester Warriors.
The three fair play winners; London Irish Amateurs, Wootton Bassett and Tadley Tigers were taken pitch side to help form the Guard of Honour. They did a great job cheering the London Irish team on to the pitch!
After a tense first half for the Exiles who were trailing 6-9 at half time, Bracknell 1 and Oxford Green’s were ready to face each other in the Eteach Cup final. Both teams put all their effort into their final game of the day but it was Oxford Greens who clinched the title beating their opposition 6 tries to 3. At the end of the game both teams were congratulated by Sailosi Tagicakibau and Declan Danaher who were delighted to present them with runners up medals and winners cup!
Speaking about the U8 Eteach Cup festival, Community Marketing Manager Zoe Bishop said: “We’ve all had a fantastic day with the U8s. We were very lucky with the weather and managed to stay dry this time! I’d like to thank The Oratory School, particularly Tom Hennessey for hosting us, all the teams that took part, Oli Bishop and my team for their fantastic refereeing! I hope everyone enjoyed the day and will be back to see us again soon.”