FIJI were the winners of the 2005 Mini/midi Rugby World Cup tournament held at Malvern Rugby Club.

The south-sea islanders team made up of players from the Malvern U7 to U12 squads performed their own unique version of the 'hakka' to the words of the nursery-rhyme Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake before destroying the much-fancied New Zealand 'All Blacks' by nine tries to six in the competition final.

In the match for third and fourth place, Australia overcame a late challenge from a talented USA 'Eagles' side to claim third place, while the home nations of England, Ireland, Wales and France were left to fight-out the remaining competition places amongst themselves.

Despite the call of junior cricket and cub and beaver camps, eight teams of 10 mini/midis made it to Spring Lane for the Rugby World Cup day and showed exactly why youth rugby is booming at Malvern with some dazzling passages of play from individuals and teams alike.

The event was watched by one of the biggest crowd of parents and carers of the season who took full advantage of the fine Sunday morning weather.

After the excitement of the RWC final had subsided, the awards for the Malvern Mini/Midis took place with Bill Rickarby, the out-going club president attending his last event of office, awarding the prizes.

All 40 of the U7 and U8 players received special medals for all of their hard work through the season.

The squad coaches, Vince Hill, Marc Wolfe and Stuart Lucas also paid tribute to their colleague 16-year old Emily Davies, who had the unenviable task of keeping the growing band under control at the start of the season.

Nick Snowdon (U9), Kieran Smith (U10) and Marc Zeigler (U11) received most the improved player awards, while Chris Somers (U10) and Josh Loader (U11) won the clubman of the year awards and Nat Wallis (U11) was given a special merit award for his commitment to the Malvern U11s.

Max Hill (U9), Jack Stevenson and George Badger (U10) and Alex Swan (U11) received the squad players of the year awards and Sam Beech (U10) picked up the Youth Chairman's Cup for commitment to training and his U10 team-mates.

The prestigious Mini/Midi Player of the Year award, which is the oldest and most treasured award in the Malvern RFC youth development section, was presented by Bill Rickarby to George Badger (U10) for an outstanding season with the Malvern U10s.

The Mini/Midi coaches thanked all the parents and carers for their support through a magnificent season that had seen the weekly attendance of participants double in number compared to the previous season.

The coaches said that they were intending to build on this success in the new season especially with the introduction of a new tag rugby squad to cater for the growing number of girls aged between 10 and 12-years-old who wanted to enjoy rugby at Spring Lane.

The new season for the Malvern RFC mini/midi contact and tag-rugby players kicks off with a registration fun-day on Sunday, September 4, followed by the first mini/midi rugby festival of the season at Dursley (Gloucestershire) on Sunday, September 29, for more details ring 01684 573728.