The morning after Storm Arwen, the Old Pats U11s Viking’s squad headed across the Cotswolds to Banbury Rugby Club. With a heavy frost underfoot and a perfect blue sky overhead the emphasis was on staying on your feet, plenty of running and definitely keeping active.

Perhaps drowsy after the long journey, the first game saw the Viking’s make a very slow start. Direct running and strong rucking from Banbury, combined with weak tackling by the Viking’s, meant the home team took advantage of our slow start by scoring a flurry of early tries. However, showing great resilience and determination, the Viking’s fought their way back into the game to score plenty of their own tries to finish the game on a much more positive note.

A depleted home team needed some help from the Viking’s in the second game to make up their numbers – an ideal chance to try and get the better of your friends! The Viking’s, now much more alert, definitely grew in confidence and energy and played some great rugby with fast, accurate passing, strong running and much better tackling. The standard of play continued to improve in the last game, but numb hands made handling difficult. The Vikings stuck at it though with lots of fast and energetic play until the final whistle.

Cold and tired, the post match hotdogs tasted very good!

Well done to the boys for playing so well and ‘toughing out’ the cold, and many thanks to the amazing coaches too.

Thanks also to Banbury RFC who provided us with great opposition and great hospitality.