What a weekend ⚡ ⚡ ⚡
A fantastic showing from our club this weekend in Cheltenham in round 4 of the England Touch Steeden Sports DNTS and final round the sporttape Emerging MW NTS.
🔴 ⚪ ⚫ Everyone played amazing throughout the entire weekend, with some great results 🔴⚪⚫
Chargers faced their toughest pool of the series so far, with every game being closely fought to the end. All pool matches were played on the 4G pitch, with the confusing layout to the pitch causing some costly mistakes and several scores being missed. The Gregggg Stare was being dished out left, right and centre, and Jordan earned himself a record breaking stare, only 15 seconds into the very first match of the tournament for scoring over the dead ball line. However, chargers emerged from the groups with 3 wins from 3:
Our pool results were as follows: • Chargers 2 vs 0 Nottingham • Chargers 3 vs 2 Warwick Knights • Chargers 4 vs 3 South London Touch
First goal achieved, topping our group and getting into the Cup Pool. Following the rankings, we landed 5th seed and faced CSSC - London in the Cup QFs. They came out of the blocks at pace, and their driving was intense, we had to up our game, and quick! Chargers really stepped up their intensity in the second half of the match and played some of their best Touch of the tournament, earning a hard fought win with a score line of 5-3.
Onto the semis, against Norwich Rebels (again!), a repeat of two previous rounds semis. Five minutes in, we lost play maker Cropper to an injury, but the team dug deep with some great attack and textbook defence across the board. Cropper watched on from the sidelines as Bruce went off piste in attack, as the collective box shouted “no, just go in and take the touch”. However, he produced sublime pace to score in the corner, thankfully evading the inevitable Greggstare. The other 2 scores came from a pacey Nubli, who had an impressive tournament and is improving his skill with every match.
The chargers came away with a 3-1 win - Finals time!
The cup final was played against St Albans, a team we’d yet to meet in the series. Chargers were looking for their fourth consecutive cup victory but St Albans came out strong. A fast paced game, Chargers quickly found themselves 3-0 down as St Albans looked the hungrier team. We started to stage a comeback with 2 scores from El Capitan Simons, but unfortunately we were unable to match them score for score, as they took the title with a well deserved win (we’ll get them next time!).
Another brilliant performance in the DNTS by the Chargers - Finalists in the penultimate round and we go into the final round at the top of the table. Bring on Derby in September!
Teamsheet:
Top Performers:
Congratulations to the following players, who stood out throughout the day. Defensively, and for passing on knowledge to our newer female players, Rosie was outstanding. The ever present and consistent Cropper was instrumental in getting to the final, and results showed that he was missed when not playing and directing play.
An outstanding individual performance by Nubli, improving in each tournament, and a couple of crucial scores in the Semi Final got him listed as Most Improved for the day.
Social time
Off to the Overbury Manor, at Watercombe Farm to meet Jane and Tom snr, the hosts with the most and their field of cows (photos).
A fantastic BarBQ, drinks and some midnight ivory tinkling by Jordan, made for a great end to a great day!
Onto day two: The Emerging Men's NTS Dan and Julia were due to come into the Sunday squad to provide some much needed fresh legs, but unfortunately Harry and Kathy couldn’t play as they had previously booked some morning pottery classes at the Airbnb, followed by an afternoon at the local naturists paddle board club. Following a hearty breakfast, care of the Overburys, our tiny but fearless team of 8, headed to the field once again, for the Emerging Men’s NTS comp. It was always going to be a graft, but we couldn’t be prouder of everyone who took part, they all put such a massive shift in!
Pool round results: • Chargers 4 vs 3 Norwich Rebels • Chargers 5 vs 2 Cheltenham • Chargers 2 vs 2 Crewe & Nantwich Blaze • Chargers 3 vs 4 G:Force, with our score in the last minute disallowed, we ended second in our group.
Chargers finished 2nd in the group, putting us in a Cup QF against a strong St Albans side: a repeat of the previous days final, we had a score to settle. With AJ having to sit out the rest of the day under physio orders, we were down to 7 again until the mighty Pam showed up (who had been playing for G-Force women’s all day as well) to lend a hand. The legs were tired but our minds were strong, and we put in a strong performance to win 5-2 (told you we’d get them next time!) and progress to the cup semis.
We were down to one sub for the semis with Pam back playing in the women’s comp, but nonetheless we charged on with all that was left. A tense battle against eternal rivals Chester, we unfortunately fell just short in the semi final, losing 4-3 and bowing out as joint 3rd. Being so close to making the final again, with just one sub most of the day, was absolutely fantastic and a testament to all the training and fitness work done over the season.
Teamsheet:
Top Performers:
Not just a pretty face, Tom Overbury had a great day on the field following organising a spread fit for a king the night before. Every eager to learn and ask questions (so many questions), Overbury is becoming integral to the teams results and exceeding expectations each event.
Julia Kang, our star winger, easy choice for MVP. Not only did she not sub all day, her work rate and defensive efforts were second to none, very well deserved accolade!
Onwards to Derby! ⚡⚡⚡