Apparently the world does still exist before 8am on a Sunday morning. Who knew. The M25 is a joy at this time however, and it isn't often we get to say that.

With a local half marathon shutting the roads around the club after 9am, Adeel's squad wiped the sleep from their eyes and headed for the banks of the Thames on a lovely sunny day. Paying £5 to park woke a few of us up, as did the rather steep slope down to the parking area, but it was all brilliantly marshalled and parking was easy and close to the ground.

We immediately realised this was a BIG tournament and couldn't see many others from Reigate, so we headed towards the smell of breakfast.

Great bacon sandwiches and coffee got the parents into a lively mood, but it was the arrival of an ice cream van that generated the most excitement for the players. There was excitement, and a little nervousness, from the coaches and parents as well. It wasn't long before some training was underway, and the Reigate base camp tent was up.

First match was at 10am, and it was one of the home teams from the Vandals, the Vultures. This was it, game on for the boys.

The boys went a couple down by half time, but bravely hit their stride in the second half with some brilliant passing to pull back to 6-6 at the end.

As there was a bit of a break the Ice Cream van did some brisk trade, and the ever popular "Blue Ice Lolly" was much in evidence on the faces of some of the players. They looked liked mini Bravehearts, and considering how they didn't let their heads go down after the first half of the previous match, this was very appropriate.

Next up was Old Ruts. Another very very tight game, with more great passing. It ended in another draw 8-8 with only a disallowed try right at the end between Reigate and victory.

Straight into a game against Wimbledon Warrirors, and another well balanced match up. The highlight of the match was a try that was run from one end of the pitch to the other, including several passes on the run. They competed very well at the turnovers as well. Brilliant rugby from our boys. But a last minute try from Wimbledon denied us our first win, ending up 7-7.

A short break for excellent BBQ burgers and hot dogs, and a "relax" for the boys playing what might have been football.

Then on to Kingston, who were very strong but Reigate battled bravely to keep the scores pretty close. We had some bad luck with turnovers, which they scored from and we didn't. 9-7 to Kingston in the end.

The final game was against the second home side, the Kestrels. And what a game it was, heads could have gone down after the string of draws and a loss, but with some of the best rugby of the morning the U8s fought back to win 7-6 with a last gasp turnover on the final play of the game.

Overall we came 3rd out of the 6 teams in our group, and considering how close most of the games were this seemed pretty fair.

A great tournament, brilliantly organised, some really positive rugby from Reigate U8s and it was all smiles at the end.

Big thanks to Weybridge Vandals, as well as the coaches, players and parents. The early start was worth it, what a great day.