PETERSFIELD Rugby Club’s under-seven to under-12 mini section took more than 200 people away on tour to the annual Bath minis festival.

Field’s base was a campsite at a working farm, Lower Chatley Farm, some ten miles South of Bath on the A36.

The festival was held at two sites with the under-sevens to under-tens stationed at the Recreation Ground and the under-11s to under-12s at Bath’s training ground.

The under-sevens played two teams in a very friendly and welcoming tournament. The teams played tag rugby, and there was no scorekeeping or knock out competition. The players were all presented with a medal at the end.

The under-eights, meanwhile, were playing their last tag matches as next year they graduate to contact. The two teams from Field had four matches each. Team A went unbeaten with three good wins and a draw to finish. Team B did well too, with two try-heavy draws and a couple of close defeats.

The under-tens event was split into three pools. For this age group the festival was a mixed ability team event. The A team were in pool A, and the ones were in pool C.

The A team got off to a flying start with two wins in their first two matches before facing one of the Bath teams. Field put up a valiant fight but could not hold the opposition back, falling to a 2-0 loss. A little disheartened, Field began the next game on the back foot and by half time were losing heavily to Bradford-Upon-Avon. A good team talk at half time set the team up to win the second half and re-instate their self-belief.

At the end of the pool stages, the A team had just done enough to get into the final rounds of the cup, facing the other Bath squad in the quarter finals. Scoreless at half time, Bath took the lead early in the second half only but Petersfield were resolute and equalised. The decision went to a coin toss which did not go Field’s way, but the players took the result with maturity. Their vanquishers on this occasion went on to win the cup.

The ones had a quiet start to their day, with back-to-back losses in the first two games. The opposition had been strong, and the players did better in their final game. When the final standings were announced, the ones had made it through to the final stages of the plate competition. Field made short work of the quarter and semi finals, setting up a final against Keynsham. Both teams defended well and the match ended without a score. Festival rules stated that, should the final be tied, both teams share the win, so the ones were the joint-winners of the plate.

The under-12s arrived in Bath a couple of players short, so they borrowed two players from the under-11s and two from an opposing team. A draw in their last pool game knocked them out of the cup competition but put them into the plate final, where they lost a hard-fought game.