Grovehill Stags hit form to bag the Neighbourhood Trophy

Grovehill Stags have been crowned champions of the U13 Hemel Neighbourhood Satellite Club programme.
Grovehill Stags won the Hemel U13 Neighbourhood TrophyGrovehill Stags won the Hemel U13 Neighbourhood Trophy
Grovehill Stags won the Hemel U13 Neighbourhood Trophy

After four rounds of the competition, Kings Langley Stags and Grovehill Stags were tied with the same number of wins.

Attendance was high for the final round of action, with the 28 players split into three evenly matched teams.

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The fixtures began with Blue Stags versus White Stags; Max Lacey scored four tries during this game, each time showing tremendous footwork and pace to make the break.

This attacking prowess was supported by the aggressive defence of Kai Leong and Ben Harrison, while Danny Knights began with confidence and took several good carries.

From one such carry from Knights, the ball was put through the hands of Mac Gill, Josh Mansfield and Alfie Ball, before finding Lacey for the easiest of his four scores.

Josh Mansfield also threw a good dummy to get over the whitewash himself.

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The Blue Stags did compete well, with Callum Earey stepping well and allowing Ollie Stafford to score twice in reply as the game finished 20-8 to Kings Langley White Stags.

Game two saw Kings Langley Stags face Grovehill Stags, and the game began with two showings of yet more outstanding pace.

First, Jack Tynan sped clear after carries from big forwards Luke Dunham and Matt Cannon, before Kings Langley replied when Taylor Gindrat swept up a loose ball and raced the length of the field to score.

Matt Cannon read the play beautifully for the yellows but, being the size he is, didn’t quite have the pace.

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He did manage to power over two plays later, however, while Kam Royce has really grown into the hooker role over the last few weeks, with good aggression and a magical step out of dummy half allowing him to get on the score sheet.

Grovehill increased their lead with another try from Tynan, before Elliot Hutchings replied by deservedly getting a try of his own after constant involvement in the action as the match ended 16-8 to Grovehill Stags.

Game three featured pupils of Cavendish and Longdean Schools combining in the Blue Stags team to face Grovehill.

The Longdean pupils are fairly new to the programme but weren’t shy about announcing their arrival with consecutive busting runs from Tom Cattelane and tireless work from Kyle Uphill and Oli Grossman.

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Dougie Oppong was the standout performer as he constantly tracked back to make covering tackles.

It was Grovehill who opened the scoring, with Tynan again going over following carries from fearless winger Alfie Ash, but William Mushuri replied by ghosting through the defence.

Cole Devine was trying his best to keep his side in the game with crunching tackles, but Kam Royce stepped up to score a late hat-trick to win the game 16-8 for Grovehill.

Grovehill Stags won the round robin on the day, allowing the team made of Astley Cooper and Adeyfield pupils to take the Hemel U13 Neighbourhood Trophy.