The season opened with short trip to Eltham College for the foxbury festival. The predicted monsoon thankfully stayed at bay and the spanking new Gazebo got its first outing. First up for the blue and golds were Bromley and we started with some really great tackling and go forward momentum. The rucking needed some work and we edged ahead with some good tries but the stand out in this one were two fantastic try saving tackles from Jemima and then Marshall right at the end which meant we were off with a win. OE's were next again strong opponents who were a bit better at rucking than us and their better work at the breakdown saw them edge us out 3-1. Colfians were next so Leo got chance to do battle with his cousin again. This again was a real close one and included our try of the day with Arthur running the length of the field for a great score. Colfes last gasp score though meant they edged it by a try. Finally we took on the strongest opponents of the day Sevenoaks. They beat all comers but we gave them the a real test with some great defence and our best rucking of the day. Jay summed up the fearless attitude with another try saving tackle at the end.

It was overall a really positive and enjoyable days rugby. It was great to see the children visibly learning and taking in their mistakes in earlier games to improve themselves in later ones. They really seem to be growing together as a team and great to see Fionn in his first festival looking like he's played rugby for 4 years rather than 4 weeks. My Oliver noticed that one team we played had the same team for the whole game against us and had children on the line watching. Our kids learn by playing and that's why it was impossible to spot a miserable face or a weak player within the 13 champions in the blue and gold hoops.