TEAMS from Wales, Gloucester and the West Country flocked to Chippenham rugby club for the annual mini rugby festival on Sunday.

More than 1,000 players and parents gathered at Allington Field to compete in tournaments ranging through the U7 to U12 age groups.

The club's mini playing section chairman, Ray Lewis, was delighted with event and rated it a huge success.

He said: "With more than 1,000 players plus their parents, siblings, coaches, referees and helpers, logistically the day was a massive event for the club.

"It ran smoothly due the actions of all participating clubs, the great work put in by people involved in each of the Chippenham age groups and the clubhouse staff."

The presentations of the trophies were made at the end of the day by Dave Aldred, the England and British Lions Specialist Coach.

Chippenham Rugby Club were well represented with all their age groups reaching the semi-finals.

The home club's best result came in the U8 age group where they stormed to the final and won the trophy.

Lewis said: "There was genuinely some very high quality rugby played, with many new friends made."

Welsh club Rhiwbina dominated proceedings and took the winners trophies in the U9, U11 and U12 age groups.

They topped the U9 group after winning all their matches to reach the final.

They remained unbeaten when they fought their way to a narrow 10-5 victory over Stroud.

Both Chippenham's sides both finished second in their group and finished third and fourth.

The Welsh outfit continued to dominated the festival and won the U11 section with a 10-0 win over Keynsham with Chippenham losing out to Stroud in the play-off for third.

Wootton Bassett could not manage to pick up a trophy but were favourites for the U7 after topping their round robin group.

But they were ousted by Stroud in an exciting final contest with the Wiltshire side going down 36-25.

Chippenham finished third in that age group with a close 35-30 win over Cheltenham.

Chippenham missed their chance for a second final of the day in the U10 group but managed to finish third with an outstanding 15-0 victory over Cleve.

Swindon reached their only final of the day in the same age group but missed out on a winners medal when they were overpowered 15-0 by Keynsham.

Corsham only travelled with the one team on the day to compete in the U12 division, but made up for lack of numbers by making a maximum impact.

They made the final of the U12 age group before losing to a classy Rhiwbina team, but were very satisfied with their efforts.

Lewis has already taken bookings for next year's event and has been overwhelmed with the response.

He added: "Next year's event is already twice over-subscribed, excluding the clubs participating today. This shows what an event the Chippenham mini festival has become."