AS ANOTHER successful season draws to a close for the adult teams at Andover Rugby Club, there have also been a lot to cheer on at youth level too.

Andover U7’s put in another solid tournament performance at Havant last weekend, with the AJ Wilson Joinery sponsored squad narrowly missing out on the top spot to finish the day as cup runners-up.

Fielding two six man teams ("Lions" and "Tigers"), both carved their way through the pool games undefeated.

Sebastian Slater, Shane Hull and Oliver Lishman helped the Lions secure good wins against Alton and Portsmouth and hosts Havant also struggled with the play from George Kelly, Lewis Figure and Bertie Michael.

Meanwhile for the Tigers, Barney Bentley continued his recent run of attacking form; with Oliver Waugh producing an equally prolific try-scoring display. Not to be outdone Cian Killick and Angus Wells showed both pace and intelligent play throughout all three matches, and with the tireless defensive work of David Young keeping the opposition at bay the Tigers finished the pool with an impressive 10-3 victory against the host side.

Andover faltered slightly in the three-way play-off; losing to a well drilled Chichester, who were the eventual winners. The final play-off against Winchester saw the Lions finish the day strongly with an 11-7 win, securing an overall second place among the 12 competing clubs, and rounded off their successful season in fine style.

ARFC Under 15's Devon Tour

The Ken White Distribution sponsored U15 squad consisting of 21 players travelled to North Devon for a four day tour, which encompassed two matches, team activities and a training session with the Premiership club, Exeter Chiefs.

The first game against Crediton U15s was exciting and could have gone either way, but Andover edged it 42-36. The second game against Chard RFC was a very hard match, notably in the forwards which was the opposition’s strength. Andover represented the club courageously and ended the match 26-26.

The highlight of the tour was a training session with Academy and Senior players at Exeter Chiefs, followed by forming part of the guard of honour prior to the match against Northampton Saints.