The tournament started in January and involves most clubs across the Surrey region. After coming top of their qualification group, our A team played in the main cup final on Sunday 24th April, securing a hard-fought 20-15 victory against Farnham RFC.

Our players showed the resilience, and collective purpose, that has defined their progress this season, after quickly falling two scores down to a powerful Farnham side. They realised the day would require them to dig deep and quite literally dusted themselves off, taking the game to Farnham with some excellent defensive pressure that led to Captain Zac superbly grasping an opportunity for an interception and racing fifty metres to narrow the gap.

Our second rowers, Spencer and Leo, began to show their strength with props, Vincent and Jack, also fronting up to an opposition team who were perhaps used to physically dominating games. Sam S carried the game to them at number eight and after camping out in their 22, Vasily seized an opportunity to level the scores.

As the half drew to a close we came under sustained pressure, but smart defensive work by our wings George L and Luca meant Farnham were unable to capitalise on several overlaps. Our own attack and support play was starting to click and scrumhalf, Harry took opportunity to move the ball down the line for George B to score in the corner and take us into half-time 15-10 ahead.

The start of the second half mimicked the first, with Farnham putting us under enormous pressure, though this time we repeatedly repelled them. Our 'Backs Man of the Match', Sam G-J at full back and Moses at centre led the tackle count - taking down anyone running at them. However, Farnham drew level midway through the half when one of their many strong runners managed to breach our defence.

At 15-15, with some ten minutes left, our 'Green and Gold' Barnes boys had a collective decision to make. Did we want to crown a superb season of progress with the Cup or had we done enough today to go out with our heads held high acknowledging that this Farnham team weren't themselves ready to give in?!

And this is where this one game effectively became an embodiment of our whole season, as the boys shrugged off their slow start and collectively decided to commit, leave everything on the park, and play for each other, displaying the impressive potential this cohort of players has. With the clock ticking down, they focused on line speed, tackled relentlessly, contested and won more possession. Eventually we found space out wide and Chris - while still in his 22, showed his intelligent reading of the game by drawing two players before releasing George B to scorch along the touchline and score, putting us ahead 20-15!

Farnham still had time for a comeback, but our boys resolutely held their lead. Richard, our 'Forwards Man of the Match', tackled with typical heart and technique, with him and hooker, Charlie, fearlessly knocking the opposition forwards back and continually disrupting the opposition pack's efforts to win clean ball in the rucks!

And when the final whistle went, it was delightful to see not only our A Team immediately gather, arm-in-arm, jumping for joy as a team - but also our B Team players run onto the pitch to celebrate what was ultimately a victory for all this wonderful "one squad" of Barnes u13's players, parents and coaches.

The Under 13's B Team

Before the A team final, our B Team faced home team, Old Cranleighan's C's, in our own Waterfall Cup final on the same pitch. Every boy on our books was required on Sunday to make up two full squads - and it was impressive to see the response from parents and players as we started the game with three replacements.

There has been massive progress across our whole squad this season. In the autumn, we endured defeats against the likes of Teddington and London Irish as we prepared for the Waterfall Cup - and realised that our tackling, work at the breakdown and overall structure needed a massive amount of improvement. Huge credit to all our coaching group, led by Spence, Boko and Woody, for identifying the issues and working on them tirelessly with all our players. Our B team has certainly improved throughout the season - finishing off the qualifying phase of the Waterfall Cup with a fantastic victory over Haslemere, who had only conceded a handful of tries in their group up till then.

So we went into the final against OC's full of confidence, with a group of players who train each week as part of one squad together with the A team and are beginning to realise we can match anyone if we stick together. We started impressively - dominating possession and eventually working the phases to score a deserved opening try. However, Old Cranleighan's have a much bigger squad in this age group and were able to strengthen their team with quality reinforcements after that. Facing some physical and talented players, the resilience and character of our B team was impressive to watch. We tackled as well as we have all season, competed fearlessly and pushed the home side right until the end.

In the final minutes, it looked like our boys had snatched a draw with an excellent try to make it 20-20. However, OC's scored right on the final whistle to snatch victory, 25-20. It was a gut-wrenching defeat, but the boys showed immense heart, and both the coaches and parents were incredibly proud of each and every player before the much-needed tonic of cheering on the A team to victory revived our one squad spirit completely!