Well done to all who participated in the trials for the Crusaders regional programme this weekend in Chichester. There was a very good turn out with 17 players in attendance.

Dayle Kirby and Dave Lee put the players through a variety of tests including the 40 yard sprint, 3 cone drill, db drill, snapping, throwing and scrimmages.

This was the second trial session, following one in Coventry recently. All players will be notified of the result of their try out this week. If successful they will join the Crusaders regional squad and have the opportunity to be selected for the Great Britain Lions squad that will attend the European championships later this year.

(Click images to see a larger version)

The Chichester Sharks hosted fellow BAFL Flag team the St Albans KIngs and newly formed Peter Symonds Sabres last weekend in Chichester in a series of post season friendlies.

First up was the host team Sharks vs new boys the Sabres, who formed in January at Peter Symonds sixth form college in Winchester, for their first competitive game. Sporting a number of rookies who had only had one training session the Sabres took the early lead with a long pass on their first possesion after the Sharks couldn’t move the ball on their first. The teams traded scores, including a first ever pass completion for a TD by Sharks long time centre Gary Robinson (on a trick play to QB Neil Henderson). The Sharks led by a single score at the half but experience soon started to tell as they held the Sabres to a single 2nd half score while converting several drives (and turnovers for scores) to run out convincing 58-31 winners as time expired.

The Sabres looked to bounce back against a Kings team which never gave up during the recent inaugral BAFL Flag season despite having a small squad to work with. The Sabres’ youth and speed was too much for the Kings who were denied a number of scores from dropped passes. Tiring in the second half and frustrated by a sharp Sabres defence the Kings struggeled to move the ball and fell foul of a number of penalties and despite a late scoring flurry could not prevent the Sabres from notching up their first competive win in a convincing 44-20 win.

The Sharks faced the Kings in the 3rd and final game of the day and again experience was deciding factor. Putting constant pressure on the Kings QB the Sharks were able to get a number of turnovers and had no trouble moving the ball. Fielding a number of rookies the Sharks were abke to mix up their personnel in various positions and try out a few new plays and finally ran out winners 60-6.

The Sharks organisation would like to thank the Kings for making the journey down from St Albans and to welcome the Sabres officially to Flag Football and look forward to playing both teams again soon. All of the games were played in extremely good and competitive spirits.

Dayle mentioned this in the comments of the previous post, but I thought I’d better highlight it with a post of its own. Here is the plan for the next few weeks. Please make every effort to be available for each date.

Sunday 10 August: training from 10.00 in Chichester

SATURDAY 16 August: tournament in Coventry

Sunday 24 August: HOME tournament at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham

Sunday 31 August: training from 10.00 in Chichester (possible friendly tbc)

SATURDAY 6 September: National Finals in Doncaster (if qualify)