THREE of four Medway mini rugby teams progressed through to the final stages Kent trophy tournaments last weekend.

Odd ones out were the Under-10s, who were a bit hard done by after finishing their three group games unbeaten.

The Under-11s did best as they qualified for the Plate by winding up second on the day. The Under-12s and Under-9s will be contesting the Bowl competition

The 11s' path to the next round was pretty emphatic as they registered 15 tries and conceded just two.

A poor start against tough-tackling Dartfordians and a 1-0 defeat meant they wouldn't stay in the Cup, but they quickly got into their stride with an impressive 7-1 victory over Folkestone.

Scrum half James Robertson opened the scoring before giant second-rower James Hudson deftly offloaded for Aengus Daly to cross the line. As the confidence flooded into their game Harry Bloomfield bagging an impressive double and Josh Bruin also scored twice, both thanks to interceptions.

Aengus Daly wrapped it up after a run from halfway.

The third pool match pitted Medway against Tonbridge Judds 'B' and it was a more closely contested match.

A scintillating break from Adam Clark wound up two yards from the line but gave Billy Young the chance to pounce and open the scoring, while the ever-present Daly ran in a try from 30 yards. Callum Germany picked up from behind his own scrum to weave his way through several of the opposition to complete a 3-0 result.

Having finished the group stage in second place, Meds faced Thanet in the quarter-finals of the Plate. By now they were in full flow and centre Alex Belsey opened the scoring after a jinking run through several defenders. Not to be outdone, fellow centre James Bullock ran in another two tries before Germany struck again from in close after a mesmeric run from Bruin. Daly finished the scoring to take his personal tally for the day to a whopping four tries.

All in all it was an extremely impressive day for the Medway youngsters who showed that they are more than capable of mixing it with the best when they set their minds to it. Even more encouraging was the emergence of several new players to the squad – Joseph Hicks, James Clack, Lachlan Wardle, Regan Blyth and Michael Parmenter - who all stepped into their roles with ease and made significant contributions to the cause.

UNDER-10

FOR the Knights to achieve their goal of a cup or plate quarter final they were going to have to be at their very best, since their group included Bromley and Beckenham and one of the favourites, Tunbridge Wells.

Medway started well against Bromley and but for a few stray passes could have been three tries up before going behind following an intercepted pass late in the half.

The second half followed the same pattern, except this time the Knights were able to convert their pressure into points with Lewis Hollidge going over from five metres after breaking the defensive tackle and Josh Lamb rounding the opposition winger in his own 22 and sprinting the length of the pitch to score.

Bromley came back strongly, but Medway held out until the final play when their oppos scored in the corner despite the two man tackle that looked like it had succeeded in getting the player into touch. Final score was 10-10.

Despite their disappointment at not winning their first game and going 5-0 down early on in the second, the Knights bounced back with a convincing display of running rugby against Beckenham, scoring five tries and winning by 25-5.

The tries came from Jack Bloomfield and Josh Lamb (both fine individual efforts in the first half), two from Christopher Jarvis and one from William Milham (in the second half after good handling in the backs including a great offload in the tackle from Hollidge to put Milham in the corner).

Adam Sleiman made his tournament debut at outside centre and produced a fine performance, especially with his tackling, while mention should be made of Karl O'Grady and Reuben Murdock-North, who teamed up as props for the first time and supplied the backs with plenty of ball by dominating the set pieces.

The final group game against Tunbridge Wells was, as expected, the hardest.

Again going behind to an early try the Knights had to dig deep and despite the quality of the opposition they secured good ball in both set pieces and the loose through the tireless work of Sam Crean, Oscar Wells and Tom Narborough.

With good, quick ball being secured the backs came into their own and outside centre Jarvis scored two tries, the second after it went down the line to Bloomfield who supplied a perfectly timed pass.

Wells hit Medway with all they had and the last five minutes of the game were spent camped on the line. The defensive tackles were countless, the ball was held up over the try line twice and driven back into play - until the pressure told with the very last play (once again) when the oppos broke through to square the scores at 10-10.

The Knights were up against Old Elthamians in the quarter final of the Plate and after previous efforts in the group it proved one big game too many. They went one try down early on and after the two teams cancelled each other out for the rest of the half battled back to level just after half time.

The forwards once again secured good ball to get the backs away and wing Mattias Carden made good ground. The ball was recycled and sent down the line to the other winger, Jacob Clayton, who was held up just short. The ball was turned over in the resulting ruck, but went loose over the try line and Oscar Wells was there to touch the ball down.

The rest of the match was quite even but Elthamians eventually gained an edge up front and secured the 15-5 win with two very well taken late breakaway tries.

UNDER-12

GREAT start, even better finish, shame about the middle. That was the final analysis after Meds made it to finals day in the end.

Notoriously slow starters, they actually won their opening group encounter 5-0 against Folkestone in a match dominated by evenly matched forwards but which had few scoring opportunities.

Sidney Holland touched down from the first opportunity and the defence stood resolute as Oliver Woodward and Noah Hyde provided demonstrations in the art of tackling.

Perhaps it was the surprise of a confident, winning start to a tournament for Meds seemed to go to sleep in their next two group encounters (Old Elthamians and TJs) conceding 11 tries and scoring none.

But they did put up a fight in the second half against hosts and tournament favourites, TJs.

Perhaps there was life in them after all.

That was how it went. Through to the Bowl quarter finals by finishing third in their group, they defeated Sidcup 25-10.

Robert Butler opened the scoring before Jordan Stubbington touched down in the corner following a great driving maul to make it 10-0 at half-time. No resting on the laurels this time and Dan O'Brien scored a third early in the second half, while Butler and David Harris added two further tries.

UNDER-9

MEDS kicked off the festival against Bromley, a large and strong side who showed what they were capable of by running in five tries without reply despite the tough tackling of Matthew Beard, Max Bullock, Rhys Potter, Ciar Connell and Matthew Beard. and the hard work of William Schmoeger, Josh Kelsey, Angus Robertson, Cullen Daly, Ethan Kirwan, Toby Graham and Cameron Settle.

The Priestfields youngsters were awarded three points for fair play and they were rightly proud of themselves

They fared a lot better against Thanet Wanderers as Beard registered their first try of the day and Bullock the second.

Last group game was against Old Alleynians where despite a try from Beard Meds were unable to make progress and lost 2-1.

Through to the quarter finals, though, and a chance to make it through to the Bowl finals.

Everything to play for against Whitstable and a drive from Settle and tackle by Schmoeger set the tone.

A pass from Daly to Beard provided the first try of the match, while a hard and tight drive enabled the same player to touch down for number two.

Daly weaved his way through for the third, Bullock registered the fourth and Beard raced the length of the pitch to complete his hat-trick and a 5-0 result.