The weather was ideal for the event and, with perfect ground conditions, the scene was set for a fantastic day.

The 28 participating teams were divided into four groups. With just the group winners progressing to the semi-finals, the matches were highly competitive.

Group A proved to be the most competitive with teams taking points from each other and the outcome was not decided until the final match.

Even then it took a calculator to separate the teams. St Joseph’s, Holly Spring and Winkfield St Mary’s all finished on 13 points and in the process beat each other.

The top try scorers would progress and with 33 Holly Spring just edged it from St Joseph’s with 32 and Winkfield St Mary’s with 30. Ascot Heath deserve a mention for a record number of drawn matches, with four of their games ending all square.

Group B was a bit more straightforward with last year’s winners Meadow Vale making steady progress. Without ever running away with any of their matches, they scored steadily, kept possession of the ball and restricted their opponents scoring opportunities. With their nearest rivals taking points from each other, they cruised into the semi-finals.

In Group C, Harmanswater and College Town emerged as strong contenders for the knockout stages.

Harmans Water could afford to drop points in a drawn game with Owlsmoor as long as they beat their closest rivals. College Town won five of their six matches, but crucially slipped to a 5–3 defeat against Harmans Water, who duly took their semi-final place by just one point.

On the face of it, Group D looked a relatively straightforward passage for previous winners Whitegrove.

In fact it was anything but, as a remarkable game with free scoring Binfield ended 9–8 in Whitegrove’s favour. A reversal of that match would have seen Binfield through by the narrowest of margins. This group was the highest scoring of all the groups with more than 200 tries scored.

In the semi-finals the ‘handover’ rule is introduced to reward strong defending teams by allowing just six tags to score before the ball is handed over to the other team.

This had little effect on the try scoring potency of Meadow Vale and Holly Spring who scored almost at will, with Meadow Vale edging the first semi-final by seven tries to six.

Harmans Water against Whitegrove was much tighter with fewer try scoring opportunities. With great defending from both sides, it was Whitegrove that made the vital break through to reach the final 4–3 on tries.

Whitegrove and Meadow Vale served up a fitting finale to a splendid competition with an exhilarating match.

With the handover rule and at the end of a long afternoon, defences could be expected to dominate. However, it was quite the opposite as the teams stood toe-to-toe, scoring try after try with breathtaking movement, handling and pace.

There was nothing to choose between the teams and that was reflected in a final score of 11 tries each.

The match moved into extra time with a golden try to decide the outcome.

Critically, Whitegrove had first use of the ball. Despite some excellent defence from Meadow Vale, they made full use of their possession to score the winning try.

At the end of the afternoon the Bracknell Forest Deputy Mayor, Andy Blatchford, was on hand to congratulate the finalists and present them with their medals and trophies.