We arrived at Bognor Regis to find both them and Shoreham there, but with us at only 12 players and no subs! Bognor could only muster 10 so we decided to play Shoreham first and a combined Bognor / Shoreham side afterwards. Bognor supplied the ref, who was excellent throughout!(not often I get to say that).
The day was blue skies and high temperatures and Bognor made a fatal mistake of arranging to play on the U13 pitch. From the start it was obvious that Vandals were truly 'up for it' across the team. The first tackle, catch, ruck, maul, lineout or scrum were all contested fiercely.
Soon, Vandals moved the ball through many hands to set James Gulliver up to sprint down the wing and across for the first try. Mutterings of discontent from Bognor! Try converted by Harry Weatherall. There were some great passages of play from both sides but Vandals fitness and speed told and tries came from Adam Varney, converted by Harry Weatherall, James Gulliver (again), converted by Adam Varney and the outstanding opportunist try from Harry Weatherall where Vandals put lots of pressure on the scrum and a fumbled pass allowed Harry to gather and go over from close range. Converted by Adam Varney. Bognor were snuffed out at every chance they had by some excellent tackles and rucking techniques. The first game ended in a win for Vandals, 28 - 0.

After a break for water and to allow Bognor and Shoreham to sort their team, we played 15 a side so all the players got on the pitch.
Second game was slightly closer as Shoreham had a huge centre who enjoyed running through / over players - until he was met by a tackle by James Gulliver! The sound as they hit the ground was followed by a silence. Even the ref winced at the impact. Whilst he recovered, James was up, stole the ball and was off towards the try line! The Shoreham supporters mentioned that he hadn't been tackled like that before and he was very slow getting up. He played a slightly subdued part afterwards!
Vandals eventually ran out winners by 28 - 14. Tries from James Gulliver (3) and Adam Varney (1), conversions by Adam Varney (2) and Harry Weatherall (2).
There were many good performances but outstanding players were James Gulliver, Harry Weatherall, Duncan Dickson, Rhys Marshall, Rory Burtenshaw, Ben Knowles-Baker and Adam Varney.
A great way for the boys to end their last season as minis and mark the move into junior rugby.