The team headed to Warlingham RFC for their first taste of a tournament.
Sunday 2nd October saw 29 of our Rhinos head to fellow Surrey club Warlingham RFC to take part in their first ever Festival.
Meeting at 9.45am for a warm up with head coaches Mark Reid and Ben Fairclough, the players were full of excitement – and a few nerves – to be visiting another club with their teammates.
Joining Old Reigatians at the Warlingham U7 & U8 Minis Festival were Chipstead RFC, Dorking RFC, London Irish Amateur RFC, Sutton & Epsom RFC and the home team, Warlingham.
The players were split into five teams, allowing for four players on the pitch and two subs per team (nearly!).
Each Old Reigatian team played three 18-minute games (eight minutes each way with two minutes at half time) with all players rotated for plenty of match time for everyone.
The festival was a ’round-robin’ tournament for each age group with no knockout stages or overall winners and each player receiving a commemorative medal at the end.
Head coach Mark summed up the Rhinos’ first festival as: “Chaos! But such wonderfully enjoyable chaos! Our emphasis for the day was FUN… and seeing the delight on players’ faces when scoring a try or making a tag, not just for themselves but for their teammates, I’d say that this was achieved!
“All players represented the club with distinction through the spirit, skill and determination, in which they played each and every match. A big thank you to our team manager Kim for getting us to the ‘starting line’, the coaching team and all the travelling supporters!”
Following on from the Festival, the Rhinos go straight into joint-training with Effingham and Leatherhead RFC at ORRFC before resuming their normal training schedule in anticipation of three more Festivals in the new year.
