Excellent Performance in Torrential Conditions

If it's raining, it must be time for rugby. Whilst Storm Dennis had forced the club to cancel all matches at the Hub, we escaped to the slightly less windy conditions up at Staines RFC to play in Harlequins' U9s & U10s rugby festival and the team gave a really solid performance. Thankfully the worst of the weather held off until near the end and we had four demanding matches against good teams from Battersea Ironsides, Effingham & Leatherhead Eagles, Teddington and Farnham. The results were all very close, but sadly not always in our favour. All our players showed real skill and perseverance and can be very proud of how they played. Our last two games were played back to back, with the storm really kicking in just as the last game started. The team did really well to keep going and play with determination right to the final whistle.

The team also got to meet two of Harlequins rising stars, George Hammond and Jack Musk, who are both currently playing with England U20s in the Six Nations. They gamely answered every question the kids had for them, which for 19-year-olds on a Saturday morning must have been slightly terrifying. Hopefully they didn't have to do all 20 teams by themselves. Many thanks to them, the Harlequins community team and Staines RFC for hosting.

Several of the players and their families went on to watch the Harlequins game vs London Irish at the Stoop in the afternoon. Conditions there were verging on the biblical by half time. Sadly Irish made a better job of adapting to the conditions and Harlequins were never close to winning, despite an excellent try by Alex Dombrandt showing what England might be missing. For those with sufficient clothing and waterproofs who made it to the end, very well done!