Sunday 2nd April saw Stourbridge host the James Allport Tournament for U13s. We were joined by teams from Bridgnorth, Bromsgrove, Bournville, Droitwich, Evesham, Hereford, Kidderminster, Luctonians, Newport (Salop), Old Halesonians, Old Yardleians, Sutton Coldfield, Shrewsbury, Telford & Worcester.

The weather was fantastic - more sun cream than brollies!

The day started with a minutes silence to mark the tragic events that occured last week, resulting in the deaths of Tracey and Pierce Wilkinson, who was a school friend of many of our boys. Over 300 boys stood in absolute silence on the first team pitch for a minute in a remarkable display of respect.

The games kicked off with teams playing in 4 pools of 4. Stourbridge got off to a flying start beating Evesham in a fantastic opening game on the first team pitch. This was followed by wins against Bournville and Sutton Coldfield, putting Stourbridge top of their group.

Elsewhere around the park, both Worcester and Shrewsbury finished their group games unbeaten and were also joined by Hereford in a final group. As the tournament is run as a waterfall tournament rather than a traditional knock out, all 16 teams progressed through to a second round of games and yet more rugby kicked off into the afternoon.

On the first team pitch Stourbridge beat Hereford to set up a dramatic final game against Worcester, who beat Shrewsbury. We were fortunate to be joined by a society ref for the final game - he wasnt too bad!! The game started slowly for Stourbridge in possibly their worst start of the day. A try was conceded which, whilst disappointing for the vocal Stourbridge supporters, it must also be recognised for its sheer brilliance. Some superb quick passing, followed by a sublime chip, an easy catch and a short run-in. Stourbridge were back to their best in the second half and continually applied pressure to push Worcester right to the final whistle. Alas, an equalising try was not to be and we had to settle as runners up to very worthy winners.

A fantastic day was had by all and by 4pm the cars were streaming off the car park full of very tired boys and slightly sunburnt parents.

A big thank you must go to all the volunteers on the day who helped park cars, collect scores and sell cakes, to Bob and Val Parker and to all the staff at SRFC and the catering crew. A special thank you to Miles Edge for all his help and support.

And finally - thank you to the phantom lemon drizzle cake baker whoever you are!