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Lutterworth RFC u16’s Australia 2007 Tour

Week 1 in Sydney Thursday 28/06/2007 to Sunday 08/07/07

Lutts Foxes unbeaten in Sydney!

The first week of this amazing Australian Tour was spent in Sydney and this fine young Lutterworth squad up against 3 of the cities best and strongest teams in Illawara District, Randwick and Scots College.

To ensure everyone received maximum game time while on tour this big squad was split into two sides with the 1sts playing as Lutterworth Foxes and the 2nds as Lutterworth Swifts. The Foxes won all three games in Sydney, the details of which were:

20-5 vs Illawara District – Tries from Ashley Parrott, Will Keeling giving Lutts a 10-0 half time lead. Warren Ellis and Connor Smith scored in the second half to cancel out an Illawara try, to make it 20-5 at the close.

8-7 vs Randwick – A fantastic game of rugby saw Connor Smith open the scoring, before Greg Littlewood kicked a penalty to make it 8-0 at half time. This powerful Randwick side pulled a score back which was converted to reduce the deficit to one point. The Lutts defence held out for a fantastic 8-7 victory, against one of the strongest club sides in Sydney, if not Australia!

18-12 vs Scots College – Scots fully tested the Lutterworth Foxes by taking an early 12-0 lead. Two late tries by Greg Littlewood and Connor Smith made it 10-12 at half time. A lovely run by Littlewood was passed out to Smith to score his second, before Littlewood kicked a penalty to seal a fantastic 18-12 win to Lutts.

Lutterworth Swifts played the one game in Sydney, the details of which were:

5-34 vs Randwick 2nds – Randwick were stung by the defeat to Lutterworth Foxes and determined to win the second game, as they kept on some of their first team players. The home side ran in three tries for a 17-0 first half lead. Scrum half James Lloyd reduced the deficit with a quick try before Randwick scored a couple of break away tries and a penalty to give the score a slightly flattering look of 34-5 to the home side.

Week 2 in Brisbane Sunday 08/07/2007 to Sunday 15/07/07

Lutts crowned Brisbane Champions!

This week Lutts again split their resources fielding two 16 man squads in this prestigious Southern Skies Rugby Tournament, which was celebrating its 10^th anniversary. The competition was held at Brisbane Boys College in the city. Competing along with Lutterworth Foxes and Lutterworth Swifts were Brisbane Boys College, Lloyd McDermott Development, Scots College, Notts Lincs Derby (NLD) Sharks, NLD Eagles, Rydal Penhros and Portora Royal School.  

This Tournament involved the 9 teams, playing a series six of round robin games, two games per day. The games were 20 minutes each way, with 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw and 1 bonus point for a loss by 7 points or less.

Lutterworth Swifts results were as follows:

0-15 vs NLD Eagles – A great performance against the strongest of the NLD sides, the result didn’t do the Lutts effort and commitment justice.

12-27 vs Lloyd McDermott Development – Tries from Peter Rowe and Ashley Parrott, with a conversion from Sam Williamson.

7-19 vs Brisbane Boys College – A try from Peter Rowe and a conversion by Luke Ball.

12-3 vs NLD Sharks – Tries from Joe Sullivan and Dan Holmes, with a conversion by Jack Edwards.

14-7 vs Scots College – Try from Tris Crawshaw plus a penalty a piece from Dan Holmes and Jack Edwards, along with a Edwards drop goal.

5-22 vs Rydal – Try from Joe Sullivan.

Lutterworth Foxes results were as follows:

20-7 vs NLD Sharks - Tries from Joe Sullivan, Ashley Parrott, both converted by Greg Littlewood and two Greg Littlewood penalties.

15-12 vs Brisbane Boys College – Tries from Bradly Milner, Joe Sullivan and Connor Smith.

13-7 vs Rydal – A try from Ashley Parrott, converted by Greg Littlewood, plus two penalties from Greg Littlewood.

21-5 vs Scots College – Tries from Connor Smith, Gareth Clarke and Greg Littlewood, with all three conversions by Littlewood.

27-0 vs Lloyd McDermott Development – Two tries from Gareth Clarke and a try apiece for Connor Smith and James Cooke. Greg Littlewood converted two and one penalty.

3-8 vs NLD Eagles – A penalty kick from Greg Littlewood

This left the standings after the three days of round robin games as follows (Top 3 qualify for the Championship Trophy Final, next 3 for the Bowl Final and the final 3 for the Plate Final):

Brisbane Boys College     6            4           1           1          19

Rydal                                      6            3           0           3          14

Lloyd McDermott                 6            3           0           3          13

Scots College                       6            2           0           4          10

NLD Sharks                           6            2           0           4            9

Lutterworth Swifts               6            2           0           4            8

 Portora                                   6            0           0           6            1

So Lutterworth Foxes moved on to meet NLD Eagles and Brisbane Boys College in the Finals Day for the Championship Trophy, while Lutterworth Swifts moved on to play NLD Sharks and Portora in the Plate Final.

Portora vs NLD Sharks 21-7

NLD Sharks vs Lutterworth Swifts 22-9

Lutts got off to a dream start as they met the Irish side Portora for the first time, beating them 11-5. Andrew Pridding opened the scoring as he received the ball from a lovely series of passing, to touch down in the corner. Portora replied before Jack Edwards kicked a drop goal to make it 8-5 at half time. In the second half Edwards sealed the game as he kicked a lovely drop goal from the 10 metre line to kill off Portora and make it 11-5 to Lutts Swifts at the close.

NLD Sharks totally dominated Portora to run out 21-7 winners and make the last game a virtual final.

Lutterworth Swifts took an early lead through a James Lloyd penalty, before conceding an NLD try. Two more penalties from Jack Edwards took Lutts into a first half lead of 9-5. NLD brought on some of their big guns from the stronger Eagles team, to out gun Lutts with three 2^nd half tries and take the Plate with a 22-9 win.

The Finals Day positions were;

Portora                                   2            0           0          2            0

Brisbane Boys College vs NLD Eagles 25-0

NLD Eagles vs Lutterworth Foxes 0-10

Lutterworth were disappointed as they were beaten by BBC in the first of the Trophy Final games, especially after such a great first half as they took a 12-0 lead through a lovely Simon Johnson try and a converted Gareth Clarke try, kicked by Greg Littlewood. Brisbane Boys College made a fantastic fight back to score 3 unopposed tries in the second half and were able to take the game 17-12. Crucially Lutts gained a loosing bonus point as they lost by only 5 points which meant they may still have a chance to steal the trophy.

Game two kept Lutts hopes alive as NLD Eagles demolished Brisbane 25-0, leaving the final match as another virtual Cup Final, as the two strongest teams of the week met in a winner takes all game.

In this final game of the week Lutterworth Foxes needed to win, while stopping the NLD Eagles from earning a bonus point (loosing by less than 7 points). Lutts dominated both halves of this great game of rugby, missing a penalty early on, before Gareth Clarke opened up the scoring as he finished off a lovely passing move by squeezing in at the corner. Greg Littlewood converted the difficult kick to make it 7-0. With seconds to go to half time Luke Ball kicked a beautiful drop goal from the 10 metre line to make it 10-0 at half time, to Lutterworth Foxes. NLD through everything at Lutts in the second half but the fantastic Lutterworth defence held on to claim the win and take the Southern Skies Championship Trophy. The Finals Day positions were;

Brisbane Boys College      2           1           0           1            4

Head Coach Chris Everard said after the tournament:

‘We played some fantastic rugby on this Australian Tour. For the first team to win all three games in Sydney, against some extremely tough competition was stunning and made me so proud. To then go on and win this fantastic Southern Skies Championship and take the trophy, against some quality sides from all over the world was just amazing.

To beat NLD in the last match was such a pleasing moment also, when you consider that their side is made up from the best players in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire. For Lutterworth to produce a side capable of beating such teams should make us all so proud. This really was a tour of a lifetime, which will remain in my and all the players thoughts for the rest of our lives.

Thank you so much to all the members of public who made this tour a possibility, by supporting our many fund raising activities. And thank you also to NLD who along with Lutterworth showed the fantastic strength of rugby in the UK and especially in the East Midlands”

Lutterworth RFC u16’s Australian Tour Squad 2007:

Back Row:

Geoff Lloyd (Manager), Zac Wilkins, Jack Edwards, Adam Marfleet, Tris Crawshaw, Tom Jacques, Ashley Parrott, Gareth Clarke, Will Keeling, Matt Everard (Captain), Josh McLaurin, Connor Smith, Bradly Milner, Andrew Pridding, Dan Holmes, Will Clarke, Pete Rowe, Chris Everard (Head Coach)

Front Row: 

Michael McDonald, Joe Burnham, Zac Woollard, Tom Taylor, Joe Seymour, Jordan Sterriker, Liam Healy, Luke Ball, James Lloyd, James Cooke, Greg Littlewood, Miles Lowry, Joe Sullivan, Sam Berrill, Warren Ellis, Simon Johnson