Upminster Festival

Perfect conditions and a well organised event with like minded clubs made it another fantastic day of rugby at the Upminster festival. The Eton Manor Bears put on their best festival performance to date with 4 wins and a narrow loss to a well drilled Thurrock side.

Match 1: Eton Manor 4 - 1 Harlow
Great start for the Bears, really solid performance considering this was only the second match of the new season. Some well drilled passing, tackling and rucking gave them a deserved early win against Harlow. A combination of tries from Alfie (2), Kaiden and Jack made this the perfect start.

Match 2 : Eton Manor 1 - 0 Westcliff
A very close game, full of action with single try from Alfie to seal the win.

Match 3: Eton Manor 5 - 4 Bishops Stortford
Phil needed to cast his allegiance to Bishops Stortford aside for 12 minutes for this great game with two closely matched teams. The Bears really pulled together, with Alfie using his speed down the wing to drive home an amazing 4 tries and Elliot showing his strength to score the 5th. A controversial last minute try by Bishops Stortford might have made it a draw but according to 90% of the parents watching from the sidelines, we're calling it a win!

Match 4: Eton Manor 4 - 0 May & Baker
New comers May & Baker started well but this was a strong defensive performance by the Bears. A combination of tries from Alfie, Kaiden, Elliot and Jack made it 4 out of 4!

Match 5: Eton Manor 1 - 2 Thurrock
Tired legs made it a closely contested game against a strong Thurrock side, who continue to be their achilles heal. This was a brave performance by the Bears and the closest they have come to beating Thurrock in the last few outings. Kaiden scored an excellent try to make it level, but Thurrock managed to claw one back to make it 1-2.

The team put on a real show of strength on the day and the individual who showed great spirit and determination across all 5 games was Finn Smith, who collected Eton the bear for player of the day. Well done Finn and congratulations to all 12 players for a great team effort today.