Teams from Sandbach RUFC’s Under 13’s through to the Under 16’s have taken part in the Lexus sponsored north-west Rugby tournament and have returned with some early season silverware.

The tournament involved thousands of school-age rugby players being given the chance to develop their sporting skills in this nationwide competition, sponsored by Lexus. The Lexus Junior Rugby Festival brought together clubs from across the country in a series of regional tournaments, leading to a national final. The festival was supported by every Lexus Centre on the UK mainland, each supporting the junior section of its local competing team. The sponsorship package includes entry into the competition, a full set of Lexus-branded rugby shirts and a series of special launch events.

Lexus believes encouraging young sporting talent in this way fits perfectly with its brand vision of “the pursuit of perfection”. The event builds on the success of the inaugural festival held in 2006, involving many more teams, and represents another dimension of Lexus’s investment in sporting excellence. In golf Lexus was a leading patron of this year’s Open and in cricket it supported the Twenty20 Cup competition through its centre network. In top-flight rugby, Lexus has continued its sponsorship of Harlequins.

The Lexus Junior Rugby festival comprised of four regional festivals, each featuring 12 clubs, fielding up to 20 players in five age groups, from under-13s to under-17s. The London and South East and South region events took place on 17 September, hosted respectively by Old Albanians and Reading RFC. Midlands and the North West and Scotland and the North followed on 24 September, held at Derby RFC, Doncaster RFC and Sedgley Park in Cheshire, where the Sandbach lads took to the field. In all 4,800 youngsters took part, competing in 12-a-side matches.

The winners from each age group pool and the best runner-up will progress to the finals competition, to be held at the Old Albanians ground in St Albans on 7 April next year.
As for Sandbach, the U16's and U13's both won their tournaments, while the U14's were unlucky to lose in their final. Unfortunately, the U15's were knocked out in the group stages

Under 16’s
In a game that lasts only seven minutes each way, one score is often enough to win the round, and the Under 16’s were well aware of this following the Easter 2007 tour to Perpignan which included a successful performance in the regions 12 a side tournament.

Sandbach started the group phase of the tournament with an emphatic 39 - 7 win over Chester.  However, the other group matches proved much tighter but Sandbach went through as group winners, followed by Waterloo. The knock out stages saw Sandbach drawn against a big looking team from Hull and the score remained at 0 – 0 until the final few minutes when Sandbach scored an unconverted try to go through to the final 5 – 0.

The final was a rematch with Waterloo who fought hard to beat the second group winners in their semi-final. The match was played in appalling weather but both teams kept the game tight and it could have gone either way at half time. In the second half Sandbach’s experience came through and in the end the team ran in 26 points to become Northern Region Champions.

Under 15’s
Sandbach under 15’s squad prepared well for this tournament and were looking forward to measuring their progress against the strong opposition in their group. Unfortunately, they were deprived on the day of first choice players in key positions:- Prop, Scrum Half, Blindside Flanker, Nr 8, Full Back & Centre. These were mostly serious injuries including 2 concussions, a broken finger and a double break of an ankle which required the administration of oxygen at the pitch side. This rendered Sandbach relatively uncompetitive against such strong opposition. However, the rest of the squad were determined to make the best of things and put in 4 very creditable performances. Sandbach lost narrowly to Chester, Wilmslow (penalty in last play of game) and Waterloo but managed to beat Sedgley Park, the host club, by 3 tries to 1. Most of the injured players are making a full recovery with the exception of the Fullback, Luke Blagborough, who may be out until Easter next year – he has since been seen at every training session, watching from the touchline.

Under 14’s 
Playing hard and aggressive rugby Sandbach started the season with an excellent performance in the Lexus Festival. Undefeated in the group stages without conceding a try, Sandbach beat Helsby, Sedgley park and local rivals Wilmslow.
At the semi-final stage the boys again gave the opposition nothing and came away winners against Hull Ionians by two tries.
In the final against Waterloo, Sandbach gave away an easy first score following quick thinking by Waterloo at the first restart; but the boys battled back levelling the score by half time. In a dominate second half performance, a loose kick lead to a try against the run of play and Waterloo successfully defended their line to thwart all Sandbach’s efforts to equalise, before going on to win by a single score. 

Under 13’s
Sandbach were crowned Northern region champions, winning the competition in style scoring 102 points, with none conceded.

In the group stages, Sandbach topped the group with wins against Helsby 24-0 [Tries: Fairlie, Lancaster-Bartle, Weaver, Barton. Conversions: Moore, Lea]; Wilmslow 5-0 [Tries:Weaver]: Sedgley Park 10-0[Tries:Fairlie, Barton]; Waterloo 39-0 [Tries:Barton, Moore, Lea [2], Lancaster-Bartle, Toft, T. Blackhurst. Conversions :Lea[2].

Sandbach then met the runners up of the other group, Bolton in the semi-final, and cruised to a 19-0 win [Tries: Weaver[2], Lancaster-Bartle. Conversions: Moore, Lea], to face the team they had already defeated in the group stage, Wilmslow.

The all Cheshire final was played under the floodlights and wide expanses of the Sedgley park 1st team pitch. This suited Sandbach's more open free running style of play, and once Lanacater-Bartle breached the Wilmslow defence in the first half, the result was never on doubt, with Wilmslow being unable to threaten a Sandbach defence then had stood firm throughout the day.

Sandbach sponsored by Lexus [Stoke], now go on to represent the region in the National Lexus Finals later in the season.

Sandbach RUFC are justifiably proud of the achievements of all of these age groups, but would add if there are any youngsters out there who have been inspired the World cup and would like to join a winning team, you’ll be made very welcome at Sandbach.