WOOTTON Bassett U15s did England proud by winning the recent Jacques Chretien Challenge tournament in France.

Bassett's rookies, the only English side invited, took on teams from Paris, the Flanders region, Belgium and Holland and beat the favourites in the final.

Coach Steve Williams said: ""We've had a good season and this tournament was a great way to round it off.

"During the tournament Bassett scored 13 tries and only conceded one. The presentation and post-tournament celebrations then set the seal on a superb day."

The competition, held in Armentieres, 40 minutes from Dunkirk, opened with the teams being put into three groups from which the winners and five best losers went through to the quarter-finals.

The matches, of only five minutes each half, left little room for error.

Wootton Bassett coped well with the difference in rules, which included no pushing in the scrum, and referees who spoke very little English.

In France junior matches are refereed by juniors and the standard was very good.

In the group stage Bassett were drawn to play Dourdan from Paris, RC Bekaro from Holland and the host club Armentieres, who were keen to repeat their success of two years ago when they beat Bassett in a friendly.

The English youngsters started strongly against Doudan and their constant pressure yielded a 14-0 victory with tries from Chris Moakes and Mike Morton and two conversions by Russell Barstow.

The second match against Armentieres was viewed as the crunch game.

Bassett went ahead when Chris Williams took a quick penalty and drove through the French defence to score. Barstow converted.

But the French came back swiftly and were awarded a penalty five metres from the Bassett line.

The ball was given to their big second row who blasted his way to the line but two fine tackles stopped him and from the ensuing ruck Bassett won the ball.

The English players quickly moved it wide and from the counterattack were stopped about ten metres from the French line. This provided the platform for the next try when scrum-half Simon Hutchings picked up and powered over with Barstow again converting.

Bassett added a third try from Chris Williams and Barstow was on form with the boot to seal another win.

In the final group match against RC Bekaro Bassett won convincingly 28-0. Tries came from Dan Blinkhorn, Ben Stew, Chris Moakes and Jacob Sworder with four conversions by Barstow.

After a two-hour lunch break the quarter-finals got underway and Bassett were drawn against French side Marcq en Baroeul.

Bassett opened the scoring within a couple of minutes but were playing poorly and let the French back into the game. Bassett soon gave away a penalty which Marcq took quickly and went over for an equalising try.

The two sides could not be separated at full time nor after four more minutes of golden-try extra time so the match was decided with a penalty kick out.

Each team nominated five kickers and the kicks were to be taken from different parts of the pitch ranging from in front of the posts to the touchline.

The first two kickers from both teams missed from relatively easy positions as did Marcq's third kicker from the touchline.

Nerves were at breaking point as prop-forward Rhys Cadogan stepped up and sent the ball flying between the posts. The remaining two kicks were missed and Bassett won through to the semi-final against Tourcoing.

In a close contest the French played a kicking game and Bassett changed their tactics to encourage this as it enabled them to run the ball back at the opposition using their support play.

The game flowed from end to end with Bassett displaying better continuation rugby but still giving away penalties due to lack of discipline.

After half-time Bassett were much more focused and, following a French knock-on five metres from their line, Chris Moakes picked up from the scrum and drove through the French defence for the solitary try of the game which was converted by Barstow.

The final was against the pre-tournament favourites, Les Tigres from Eastern France.

Half-time arrived without any score but soon after the restart Dan Blinkhorn won a line out and fed hooker Ben Stew who crashed over for a try.

Bassett's game plan of pressurising the French to kick continued to pay off and from one kick that crossed the dead-ball line the ensuing scrum was taken ten metres from the French line.

Chris Moakes picked up and passed the ball to prop Chris Williams whose pass to Simon Hutchings enabled him to score unopposed.

Barstow converted both tries as Bassett lifted the prestigious trophy.