WASPS starJames Gaskell handed out the medals at the Bracknell Forest Festival of Tag Rugby recently, writes Chris Vaal.

Great Hollands Recreation Ground was the venue and rain failed to dampen the spirits of the enthusiastic players.

The 26 participating teams were divided into four groups, with just the group winners and runners up progressing to the knockout phases.

All teams in Group A dropped points at some stage. Binfield scored heavily as they won all but one of their games to head the group.

Ascot Heath’s win over Meadow Vale proved crucial as they joined Binfield in the quarter finals.

A special mention goes to the young Pines team who, despite not winning a game, played with real appetite and kept going to the end.

Group B was more straightforward with Warfield recovering from a defeat against Wooden Hill to win their remaining matches and top the group.

Wooden Hill’s match with Wildmoor Heath would decide the runners up, and Wildmoor Heath prevailed 8-7 on tries.

In Group C, neither Harmanswater nor St Michaels (Sandhurst) had a smooth path to the quarter finals as both teams suffered defeats. However, they accumulated enough points to qualify, and by beating their closest rivals, St Michaels (Sandhurst), took top place.

In Group D, previous winners Whitegrove made light work of qualifying by winning all their matches by at least two tries.

The quarter finals were completed by Crowthorne, who won three of their matches and drew one to make a late defeat irrelevant.

In the quarter finals the “handover” rule was introduced to reward strong defending by allowing teams six tags to score before the ball is turned over.

This had little effect on Binfield who ended Wildmoor Heath’s hopes with a torrent of tries.
Warfield’s clash against Ascot Heath was a closer affair, but Ascot Heath opened up a two try lead which they maintained throughout.

The matches in the bottom half of the draw were both decided by the odd try. St Michael’s (Sandhurst) held off Crowthorne’s challenge to win 3-2, while Harmanswater produced a shock in beating last years winners, Whitegrove 4-3 on tries.

In the semi finals, Harmanswater’s great run came to an end as Ascot Heath won 5-4 on tries.
Binfield continued to score tries for fun while St Michaels (Sandhurst) also scored freely, but Binfield reached the final by 9-6 on tries.

With tiredness creeping in and the final match a little longer, mistakes might have crept into the play, but neither side showed any signs of dropping their standards.

With time almost up the sides were tied 7-7 in tries, but crucially Binfield were in possession. They managed to work the ball into space to score the tournament winning try with no time left for a restart.

Bracknell Forest Deputy Mayor, Tony Virgo, and Wasps player, James Gaskell, congratulated the teams and presented their medals.