First of all a big thank you to all at Houghton Rugby Club for hosting the U12s festival day.
The first festival of 2014 saw Sunderland placed in a group alongside Ryton, DMP and Blaydon. The morning started with Sunderland v Ryton.

With Sunderland up against Ryton first the lads lined up ready to play. Ryton walked away 28-7 victors. With Sunderlands try coming from a quickly taken free kick taken by Joe Whelan, offloading to James Graham who crashed over the line to score. The most notable moment of the game came in the last few minutes of the first half when the Ryton winger broke away from a tackle and took off up the wing. A superb last minute tackle by Joe Whelan earned him the man of the match award.

After one game off, Sunderland were back in action against DMP. This game started well for Sunderland who picked up from where they had left off. Another try from James Graham opened the scoring. This was closely followed by a disallowed try by Josh Teal (who claims he did score but there was to many bodies on top of him for the ref to be able to award the try). James Graham was again the hero of the moment just before half time, scoring his 3rd try of the morning. Half time score 14-0.
James Savage opened his account for the day scoring just after half time. This was followed by Luke Gallagher coming close twice. Both times been pulled back from the line by some last ditch DMP tackles. Lukes big break came towards the end of the game when he broke down the left wing and looked certain to score a try only to be tackled around his ears. Cameron Holder followed up in support and cheekily picked up the spilled ball,stepped over the injured Luke and scored his first and Sunderlands 4th of the game.
Man of the match awarded to Owen Tyson for his determination and 100% tackle record.
Final scored Sunderland 28-0 DMP

Another break and then the final game against Blaydon. The game was very scrappy and some good defending by both sides kept the game down to one try. Unfortunately that try was scored by Blaydon. A couple of suspicious decisions by the referee meant Sunderland didnt get a chance to reply and the game finished 7-0 to Blaydon.
Man of the match awarded to Alex Tuckwell for his defensive clearances to keep the score at one try.

All of Sunderlands tries were converted by Alex Tuckwell who kept his cool in front of the posts.

Man of the Festival is awarded to Luke Gallagher who even after missing out on 3 tries didnt give up and kept up his work rate, constantly supporting his team mates and making some crucial tackles.

Overall a very positive morning of rugby and not to much to complain about from either coach.