In rugby there is no such thing as a “friendly”, especially playing a match against Mayville. Our team was based around a couple of players who play for a club. Mayville had a few boys with previous rugby experience. This showed in the result of six tries to one. However, the team did not give up and particular credit goes to the Year 3 members who gave a good account for themselves against bigger lads. James ”Egg” showed determination in attack as did our solo try scorer Jimmie. Harry, Tom and Katya were always in the thick of it . Harry “GG” showed great courage with his brave tackles. William was clearing away scraps of possession. All in all, Alton played with heart and commitment. Tom was Alton’s best player on the day.

The psychological advantage Mayville always has with this fixture made Alton quake in their boots. This was a game of two halves, in the first Alton did not compete, resulting in a 28 point deficit. In the second, Alton played resounding rugby particularly in the forwards. The tackling and the pressure Alton placed on Mayville was superb. James, Tom and Aislinn drove forward into Mayville to create gaps and breaks for Henry and Josh. One such forward brought Alton’s only try and it was a beaut! James took the ball on with the pack driving forward into the opposition’s 22. Aislinn linked to create another driving maul, releasing the ball back to James who fed Jack, who then peeled off the maul to the blindside to pass the ball to Josh who sprinted to the corner to score a great team try.

The game was all set for a torrid affair as Alton were so desperate to play a game of real rugby. Both teams knew a weak performance would be a major setback. Alton kicked off down hill and immediately placed Ditcham under pressure with strong tackling from Josh R and Tom. Ditcham could not make any dent across the game line as Alton's defence was outstanding. Whenever Ditcham had posession in the first 10 minutes, they couldn't make any headway. Jack and Harry together put in excellent strong low tackles. Alton's scrum looked vunerable as they continually were pushed off and this resulted in one of Ditcham's early tries. Another defensive lapse soon after saw Ditcham go to 14 point lead. Alton did drop their heads and kept going and after a couple of forward pushes, lead by Aislinn and James, we saw Josh break wide to the right. His run was stopped by a last ditch tackle, however he laid the ball perfectly for a rampant Henry who charged 20m to score a great try. This was converted by Tom. From the restart Ditcham capitalised on an ill judged catch and nearly scored, but Max completed a copy book tackle. Ditcham's third try came from some questionable rucking techniques by the opposition, so at half time Alton faced 21 to 7 score line.

First trial match for the Under 11's
A friendly match was arranged with Daneshill of Hook, a somewhat bigger school on Monday. All Alton trialists had a run out on the paddock and we even had our trainee linesman Margaret. Alton started very shaky as this was our first run out and many never played a competitive match before. Tackles were frequently missed and possession was given up easily in the first 10 minutes, resulting in easy tries scored against Alton. However, the forwards began to assert some authority, lead by James and Tom. Basic skills and understanding of the game still were a challenge to Alton. Yet Aislinn and Tom tackled non-stop with Joe tried his best to organize the troops. Alton found themselves 5 tries down at the end of the first half.