Channel Challenge - U10s take on St Malo

Heavy seas stopped some ferries on Saturday but they did not stop Jersey Rugby Club's Under 10s squad (22 boys and 2 girls) and coaches from sailing over to St Malo for the inaugural competition of the Channel Island Trophy. Members of St Malo Rugby Club, along with chairman Frederic Fontaine and coaches Marek Ignaczak, Jacky Ruault and Laurent Hoste greeted the party with an ovation theEnglandteam could only have dreamt of. A fleet of cars driven by the French team's parents were a welcome relief from the pouring rain and took the party to meet the Mayor of St Malo, Nicolas Belloir. Academy chairman Kevin Lemasney and the Mayor co-signed the official document to celebrate the first Channel Trophy with national television channel France2 recording the event.

Next, off to the real business of the day at the rugby club pitch. TV cameras in tow. Teams changed, they were led onto the pitch by bagpipes and sized each other up. It was then theJerseyparty realised the difficulty of the task ahead.Jerseycoach Paul Letch explained, "The French age groups are different to ours. Our Under 10s squad is made up of school's Year 5 children but St Malo had Year 5, 6 and 7 children in their squad. There was a big difference in size that showed, especially in hand offs."

TwoJerseysquads of 12 children took on their larger rivals with skills and courage that Ben Harvey would be proud of from his first team. TheJerseyteam put themselves in front of the French attack so quickly and bravely, time and time again. It beggars belief how they themselves then attacked so swiftly, passing the ball along the line while riding crunching tackles. The heavy pitch hurt their legs and cushioned the falls but could not stop them. Maximum effort. Not one complaint. How can these fearless Under 10s be the same children that will soon be tucked up in their beds waiting for Santa?

Head coach Phil Dennett rounded up the day, "The rugby played during the afternoon was of a very high standard considering the difficult weather conditions. TheJerseyteam played some fantastic rugby, with their strong defence proving to be a significant positive for the day. TheJerseychildren will have gained a considerable amount from the day in terms of rugby experience and learning the value of friendship through rugby."

Establishing the Channel Island Trophy will help in forging links between two rugby clubs. Team manager Iain Quenault added, "I would say that this will certainly be the start of a fantastic two-way relationship which will only enhance accord between the two clubs and the players alike."

Jerseycoach Gordon Hayden said, "For the record, the French won 3-0, 2-1 in one group and 5-2, 2-0 in the other. If we were to play them again next week it would be a much closer game."

For this day, the results of the games and the winners are very different things. St Malo took the cup for their excellent play but the squads of St Malo Rugby Club, and the close to 600 Academy members of Jersey Rugby Club are the winners of what happened on this windy, wet Saturday afternoon of rugby.

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JRFC are very grateful for the support of the Wooden Spoon charity who helped fund improvements to provide wheelchair access to the pavilion.