Esher Rugby

Molesey Road was the place to be this weekend as Esher RFC hosted the Surrey U13 waterfall cup finals day. Over 30 clubs and nearly 600 young rugby superstars took over the turf to play in their respective finals. It was a phenomenal advert for youth grassroots rugby, huge congratulations and thanks should go to all the organisers! Junior Rugby in Surrey is alive and well! Long may that continue!

Esher u13 had their final at 4pm and the boys we're overjoyed to run out onto the first team pitch, emerging through the tunnel formed by the Esher 1st VX and new Director of Rugby, Mike Brown, they looked ready for action.This show of support from the club gave them a brilliant boost as the game kicked off. Expectations were high, the young team started the fixture unbeaten in the league this season and playing confidently. Their opposition, Kingston, had topped their league too and from the moment the ref started the game, every spectator knew they were in for a treat. Both teams had really come to play! 

Esher got the first score, a classy edge to edge display of passing left enough space for George to dive into the corner. Kingston rallied and their quality showed through, their very powerful and capable runners breaking the Esher line and scoring three unanswered tries. Half-time arrived with the Esher youngsters needing to regroup. After a calming word of encouragement at half-time from the coaching team, the boys came out with renewed vigour and quickly scored via Harry in what is becoming a regular occurrence for the rapid second-row player. The relentless Kingston came back hard, more powerful runs, great rucking and pace saw them score two unanswered tries making the score 2-5 to the visiting team. Esher now had to dig deep and find something inside themselves. 

Thankfully that's exactly what they did, in one of the most thrilling 15 minutes of rugby this writer has watched, the team came together like never before. Their fitness shone through, their passion to retain the ball and move it forward and their desire to win drove them to ultimate success. Firstly the rapid winger Milo struck in the corner, then the awesome George bagged his second, a cheeky dive near the edge of a ruck before in the final play of the game George struck again, this time with a blindside dart into the corner. A quality hat-trick for George! The result was 5-5 and Esher took the win by virtue of the law that states in the event of a draw the team that scored first wins the game! The crowd went wild, the players were celebrating and the stands at Molesey Road rocked! It was a moment those boys will never forget. 

The team wants to thank all the supporters. Family, friends, the minis, the juniors, the senior club & Esher staff. A special thank you to the car park marshalls who parked 1,000 cars Darrell Spencer, Aaron (Max) Mozley, Gerry Sheridan & Ty Lawless. All of Esher turned up for this one - a great advert for 'One Esher' and a great advert for rugby! The final hurrah goes to the players. Every player in the squad has trained hard and earned this victory through that effort and discipline all season long. 

Congratulations lads...and as one coach says.....let's get to the 'next job'

Esher u13 train on a Wednesday evening and a Sunday morning. New players are always welcome regardless of experience.