Minis win 2nd place at National Minis Finals 2023

After hard work during the Minis LMF (District qualifiers) round 1 & 2, our Minis Warriors played the top ranked teams from the Dutch rugby districts on Saturday May 14th during the national finals series at Pigs – Arnhem RC. 14 teams have qualified to play this top of the board final and even if the event is labelled as “friendly competition”, players are committed to give their very best and it was clearly visible during the games. Our Minis had a fantastic day and finished on the podium at the 2nd place after a series very of high intensity games, giving their best until the end but losing 6-1 in the final against a very solid team from The Dukes.

Wrapping up this event, our Minis have scored not less than 62 tries since the beginning of round 1 and gave away only 14 (with the final counting for 6). They won their ticket to play against the best teams of the country and they made it through with this 2nd place. We played consecutively Zwolle, Breda, HRC, Te Werve RC and The Dukes through a morning ranking games and top finalists groups in the afternoon.

Our Minis finished 1st of their morning group and joined the top 4 of the morning ranking respectively The Dukes, HRC and Te Werve. It is worth highlighting the intensity and high quality games we played against Breda and HRC to go to the final. Both Breda and HRC played a very solid youth rugby and our Minis had to play at their best to stay in the race. It was great quality and clean competitive games. At this stage, nothing is given, teams do not end up at the top of the leaders board by surprises. Wrong decisions or lack of discipline will create an opportunity for the opponent and we will have to double the efforts to compensate.

These 11 consecutive wins before the final is a massive performance and a testimony that our Minis have made tremendous progress during this season. Always more to learn, but the team maturity and the vision of the game has significantly improved and made this great achievement possible. This 50/50 1st and 2nd year group is getting stronger and if certainly upset to let the 1st place go, their journey so far has been impressive. They have built solid youth rugby foundations for the years to come. The youth Wassenaar Warriors have their seat at the table with the best clubs in the country, thank you Minis for that, you are significantly contributing to this success. Very proud of you. You rock!

Laurent Minaud – Head Coach Minis