Friday, 1st May - Along with other age groups in the Minis & Juniors, NHSOB U9's arrived at their base near Bude for their end of season tour to Cornwall with fixtures arranged against Launceston and Bude.
Saturday 2nd May - Saturday morning saw the 'Old Boys' U9's make the journey from their Sandymouth Bay base to Launceston RFC's Polson Bridge ground, the home of the 'Cornish All Blacks'.
Lauceston RFC U9's had won the Cornwall County Cup the previous weekend and, therefore, would be the strongest opposition on the U9's short tour. However, Launceston were stunned by the performance of NHSOB in the first of two matches. NHSOB played easily their best rugby of the season to defeat the home side 5-0 with tries from Darren Whelton, Thomas Watson & Tomos Grant. The try from Thomas Watson was, arguably, the pick of the scores, he ran thirty metres to the line, the last ten of which with three defenders on his back, and this score was just reward for his excellent work in the tight throughout the match. In fact, the work rate from the whole team was superb with the much vaunted home team pinned in their own half for much of the match. Darren Whelton's tackling was, on occasions, bone-shuddering and scrum-half Tomos Grant, who had his finest game so far in an Old Boys shirt, got his back's moving at every opportunity. In the second match of the tie Launceston were stung into action and managed to get four tries ahead. However, superb defence by NHSOB kept the score at 4-0. In fact, NHSOB finished the stronger of the two sides battering away at the Launceston line but they couldn't quite get a sixth try. Overall, the Old Boys won the contest 5-4 against the Cornwall County Cup Holders on their own pitch which has to rank as one of the results of the season.
Sunday 3rd May - After the previous day's result, the Old Boys were always going to find it difficult reaching the same dizzy heights with their performance against Bude RFC U9's. Indeed, an air of complacency surrounded the team as Bude swept into a deserved early two try lead. This only seemed, however, to wake the Old Boys from their slumber as they gradually took control of the match with lively winger Scott Bowden going over from close range to reduce the home sides lead to 2-1 as the first half ended. The second period was then pretty much one way traffic with NHSOB scoring four unanswered second half tries. Two of those came from Iwan Nolan, the second of which was an excellent set piece move from a penalty which put the tourists into the lead for the first time. When Bude did threaten, the NHSOB defence stood firm which was typified by Dylan Smith's superb tackle on a Bude forward almost twice his size! The pacy Morgan May then extended the lead when he ran in from 20 metres before Thomas Watson, showing great vision, intercepted a wayward pass to round things off. Final score: Bude 2-5 NHSOB
To go unbeaten on a tour like this caps an excellent season for NHSOB and is just reward for the hard work put in by all the players and coaches.
NHSOB Touring Party: Owen Bevan, Scott Bowden, Tomos Grant, Jamie Hennesey, Oliver Johnson, Morgan May, Ciaran Mulcahy-Jones, Iwan Nolan, Dylan Smith, Will Smith, Sam Taylor, Thomas Watson, Darren Whelton, Callum Williams.
