THE Hampshire RFU held its annual Championship at Winchester last Sunday for the U9 &10 age groups, and Winchester again finished strongly, reaching the quarter finals at U9s and becoming joint-champions in the U10s.

The Winchester U10s finally won the only major tournament to have eluded them in emphatic fashion and without conceding a try.

The nature of the victory was remarkable by virtue of each individual squad member contributing to a team performance that surpassed all previous achievements.

In a feast of total rugby, the forwards created a solid platform, the halfbacks distributed to perfection, the centres made ground and space and the wings made inroads. In defence, the concentration was keen, the tackling was immense and the opposition rarely threatened.

In the group stages Winchester swept past Eastleigh (10-0), Farnborough (15-0), Overton (15-0) and Alton (15-0) to finish top of their group. In the knock-out stages, there were victories against Vectis (10-0) and Havant (10-0), the latter producing the try of the tournament - exemplifying Winchester's outstanding team-work.

From a Winchester line-out in their own half, Duncan Bath threw perfectly for Sam Hadlington to catch and for Charlie Pascoe to secure.

Scrum-half James Falconer launched a perfect pass to Scott Naismith at fly-half, who in turn shipped along the line to Matt Culverwell and on in turn to Will Barlow. Barlow side-stepped his opposite number, drew the wing and launched a pass to Alex Hill, who charged 20 yards for the winning score.

In the final against last year's winners Ellingham and Ringwood, Winchester had the opposition pinned in their own half for the entire match but were unable to break through for the winning score.

The Championship was shared, and it was a tribute to the Winchester team that every member of the squad gave 110%, nearly every member of the squad getting a mention on the score-sheet.

The Winchester U10s squad were: Alex Hill, Charlie Pascoe, James Falconer, Sam Hadlington, Matt Gittins, Alex Slowen, Scott Naismith, James Halle-Smith, Matthew Culverwell, Will Barlow, Howard Johnson, Jack Fifield, Duncan Bath and Ryan Bevan.