ANDOVER Rugby Club Under 14s returned victorious from a very successful tour of South Wales last weekend, winning the prestigious Caldicot tournament in the process.
Barber Lounge-sponsored Andover had to play Welsh laws and had just two training sessions to practise lifted contested lineouts.
With Dean Smith and Jake Meeks launching Bryn Waite skywards, however, Andover mastered the art superbly and simply added it to their normal brand of open attacking rugby, to outplay all comers.
On Saturday Andover defeated fellow tourists Frome 24-7 and then hosts Chepstow 54-0, with four tries from CJ Fiern and two from Jake Meeks.
Single efforts came from Jake Harwood, Callum Barber Starkey, Brendan Poole, Luke Stone, Hamish Janaway and Sam Crofts.
Max Peck kicked nine conversions.
After an afternoon tour of the Principality Stadium and an overnight stay in Cardiff, Andover stunned the hosts Caldicot, taking the trophy undefeated with two wins and two draws against Welsh clubs.
First up were the hosts who held Andover to 0-0 draw, despite a dominant performance, in which they just failed to score a deserved winner.
Next Andover narrowly beat St Joseph’s 10-5, with tries from CJ Fiern and Ed Bilborough.
Much fancied Pencoed followed, but Andover raced into a 10-0 lead through Max Peck and Sean Higgins, before Pencoed fought back to force a draw – leaving it all down to the final games for both teams.
Andover faced Newport High School Old Boys and with tries from Sean Higgins, Arlo Matley and CJ Fiern, celebrated winning the trophy by conceding less tries over the day as Pencoed could only manage the same.
All in all, a superb tour for a young Andover side who continue to improve as one of Hampshire’s top sides.
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