The day of the NLD Tournament arrived and we awoke to a heavy snow flurry in Nottingham. This didn’t bode well and having arrived in Derby to set up we then learnt that our illustrious team manager had broken down on the A52 (at least his car had anyway.

Despite this spirits were high as we looked forward to our biggest tournament of the season.

We entered the competition with an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ squad; the ‘A’ squad in Pool C, and the ‘B’ Squad in Pool A. The squads were:

Corsairs A

Seb Adams
Freddie Fuller
Miles Kane
Ollie McMahon
Onri Sais
George Sutton
Harry Wheeler
Sam Williams

Corsairs B

Matthew Davies
Max Davies
Drew Jones
Archie Leech
Archie Quilter
Noah Robertson
Didier Taylor
Oliver Trafford

Sadly for our A squad, 2 of the teams – Southwell & Tupton - from their Pool inexplicably failed to turn up, while Derby B only had 5 players. This led to a very disappointing morning for the boys who were unable to get any satisfaction from the day.

As for the games they did play:

GAME 1: Corsairs A v Sleaford – RESULT: 5-6 LOSS

TRY SCORERS:
TBC

GAME 2: Corsairs A v Scunthorpe – RESULT: 4-5 LOSS

TRY SCORERS:
TBC

GAME 3: Corsairs A v Derby B – RESULT: WALKOVER

So Corsairs A only played 2 competitive games which was totally not on and very disappointing for the boys!! There might have been good reason why Tupton and Southwell cancelled, but we have asked the Club to write to NLD to tell them what happened. We would hope they would contact these clubs to ensure everything is OK and extract an apology on our behalf (and on behalf of the likes of Scunthorpe and Spalding who had travelled miles) if there is no good reason why they didn’t show.

Finally, whilst we should be careful of being too critical, the standard of refereeing in the 2 games the boys were able to play left a lot to be desired, with some of the basic rules being unenforced and foul play being ignored.

That was all very unsatisfactory, and left everyone with a sense of injustice.

And that is where we must leave the A squad.

In contrast, over on (the very small) Pitch 1, Corsairs B were in the process of enjoying a fantastic tournament.

GAME 1: Corsairs B v Market Rasen A – RESULT: 5-5 DRAW
Captain: Ollie Trafford

TRY SCORERS:
Matthew x 4
Archie Leech

GAME 2: Corsairs B v Melbourne – RESULT: 4-4 DRAW
Captain: Archie Leech

TRY SCORERS:
Matthew
Max
Archie Leech
Noah

GAME 3: Corsairs B v West Bridgford B – RESULT: 4-3 WIN
Captain: Archie Quilter

TRY SCORERS:
Matthew
Archie Quilter
Noah x 2

GAME 4: Corsairs B v Stamford – RESULT: 7-6 WIN
Captain: Max Davies

TRY SCORERS:
Matthew x 2
Archie Quilter x 2
Max
Archie Leech
Noah

GAME 5: Corsairs B v Ilkeston – RESULT: 5-3 WIN
Captain: Matthew Davies

TRY SCORERS:
Noah x 3
Archie Leech x 2

So, after a superb set of matches, the boys finished undefeated and winners of Pool A. meaning a Semi Final spot in the main Cup Competition against West Bridgford A who had won Pool D.

GAME 6: CUP SEMI-FINAL Corsairs B v West Bridgford A – RESULT: 5-4 LOSS
Captain: Noah Robertson

TRY SCORERS:
Matthew
Noah
Archie Leech
Archie Quilter

This was a proper semi-final against a much larger WB squad and the boys came very close to winning through to the final. It was nip and tuck throughout and there were a couple of try scoring opportunities when our boys seemed to be bundled into touch. To suffer our first loss of the tournament by one try with a place in the final at stake was tough to take and we had our chances to win it. In the end, our opponents hung on and we had to settle for the 3rd & 4th pace play-off against Scunthorpe who had come through from the A squad’s Pool.

GAME 7: 3rd/4th PLACE PLAY-OFF Corsairs B v Scunthorpe – RESULT: 7-5 LOSS
Captain: Drew Jones

TRY SCORERS:
Didier x 3
Drew
Oliver

Our last match of the morning and whilst in the end we lost by 2 tries, we were level at 4-4 just after half time. Scunthorpe had one very quick player who scored 4 of their tries. Didier got a hat trick for us and Matthew went very close on at least 3 separate occasions, putting the ball down only to be adjudged to have gone into touch each time.

So that was it, an absolutely brilliant 4th place for the group.

Overall: Played 7, Won 3, Drawn 2, Lost 2. Tries for: 34 Tries against: 33

What a great performance from all the boys. The teamwork they showed and the way they supported each other, defended with commitment and scored so many great team tries was so pleasing. Very proud coaches!

There were some fantastic individual performances, notably Matthew Davies who finished as top try scorer with 10 tries. Didier Taylor was outstanding in defence finishing as top tagger with 19 tags. But it would be unfair to single out individuals too much; this was a proper, and I mean proper team performance.

A fourth place finish was absolutely no less than they boys deserved and, with a bit of luck and run of the ball we could have reached the final, and then…who knows…

Fantastically well played boys you can and should all be very proud of yourselves.

Congratulations to West Bridgford A who went on to win the Final.

Thank you as ever to all of our fantastic supporters on the touchline. Special thanks to Jamie Quilter for taking on the score keeping duties.

Finally, to all our lovely Mums who sacrificed their more traditional Mother’s Day treats – choosing to stand on a soggy touchline instead! We hope the achievement of the boys made it worth it for you.