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We are so proud to be able to report that our under 19 squad, the South East Legion, are the BAFA D2 National Champions of 2026! It’s the first time in our club’s ten year history that we have won a national championship.

Having won the South-East Division unbeaten, the Legion travelled to Stafford Rugby Club this last weekend along with three other teams from around the country to compete for the honour of being the best u19 ‘Sevens’ team in the UK. Alongside the Legion, the South Wales Warriors and North East Academy Giants qualified as division winners with the Yorkshire Academy Assassins making the trip as the best runner-up. Two semi-final games would decide the finalists for the biggest game of the year at our level.

The semi-final

South East Legion vs North East

In the semi-final, the Legion faced the North East Academy Giants from Newcastle. The Giants won the toss and an impressive opening drive behind an agile and quick QB had our under 19s defense rocking. The Giants QB ran in from five yards out for the TD and then threw a short pass for the extra point to take a 7-0 lead. The Legion’s first drive started well enough with a long passing gain on 1st Down from Tye to Harvey but the drive stalled frustratingly at the Giants seven yard line when Ben fumbled under heavy Giants pressure.

The Legion needed our defense to step up and they did. They weren’t going to allow the Giants’ offense the same room to run as they had on the first drive. The defense backed the Giants up near their own goal-line before, on 4th Down, the QB had to throw the ball away under heavy pressure from Sam. The BAFRA officials called the hurried pass as an intentional grounding penalty which is an automatic safety if you’re throwing the ball from inside your endzone. It made the score 7-2.

The defense was back at it after the offense struggled and went four and out. On the Giants first down, Douglas tackled the RB deep in the endzone to add another safety and close the gap to 7-4. Still the offense was struggling to move the ball consistently against a stout Giants defense and mental errors were starting to creep in as players grew frustrated. We needed the defense to come to the rescue for a third time. On the second play of the Giants’ next drive, Sol picked off the QB for his eighth interception of the year to set up the offense at the Giants five yard line. It needed a bit of luck on a deflection, but Tye reached Luke in the middle of the endzone for the score and the Legion led 10-7 at half-time.

The second half started controversially. Tye threw a screen to Harvey who couldn’t catch the pass, but instead of being called incomplete, the officials judged the throw as a backwards pass and therefore a live ball. When the ball hit the endzone pylon, the play was blown dead as a safety and the Giants were within a point at 10-9.

The defense held strong to give the ball back to Tye and the offense and the Legion finally got the big play it needed. Kris’ 27 yard run on 1st Down set-up Tye and Harvey to combine three plays later for a 13 yard TD (photo above). Nate’s two point extra point made it 18-9 and now the Giants needed two scores to get back in it.

A long Giants drive was snuffed out at the Legion nine yard line when Douglas put pressure on the QB and his hurried pass was picked off by Cass. With the lead and the clock starting to tick down, the Legion embarked on a long six play drive in which Kris became the focal point. He started the drive with a 12 yard run, then finished it with a 15 yard sweep for the touchdown and added the extra point himself to make the score 25-9. It proved to be the final score of the day to send the Legion into their first national final.

The National Final

South Wales Warriors vs South East Legion

As you might expect in a National Final, both teams cancelled each other out in the early going. Each team had two possessions but couldn’t score. The Legion came closest when a good drive, punctuated by some hard running from Harvey, put our offense in South Wales territory. James caught a bubble screen to set us up at the four but the Warriors defense halted Tye’s run on 4th down.

As it has been all season, it was our defense that came up with a big play when it was needed. After the teams exchanged scoreless possessions again, Lucas read the play pre-snap beautifully and hustled up from cornerback to tackle the QB in the endzone as he swept out to the left. The defense’s 17th safety of the season gave the Legion a slender but precious 2-0 lead.

A second big play followed soon after. After Ben had pounded his way to the Legion ten yard line on first down, Tye dropped back to pass on second down and found Thomas deep downfield for a 32 yard gain to put the Legion offense within touching distance of the South Wales endzone. On the next play, Ben was handed the ball again and he made a man miss and ran in virtually untouched for the touchdown.

The second half started well for South Wales as a long pass completion put them at the Legion 15. But a fumbled snap gave Cass the chance to fall on the ball and preserve the Legion advantage.

After the Legion offense couldn’t get a drive going against the Warriors difficult front, South Wales had their best phase of the game. Their speedy and agile QB had been in a great battle with our defensive leader, Sol, all day long. And on 4th down from the Legion nine yard line, the QB scrambled out left made a move and avoided Sol’s tackle to dive for the touchdown.

With a narrow 8-6 lead, the extra point play was crucial. South Wales went for two but Luan stayed with his man brilliantly and broke up the pass to keep the Legion in front.

Again, the teams exchanged drives. The Legion defense did brilliantly in limiting South Wales to just 64 yards on 30 carries, averaging just 2.1 yards across the whole game and it was key to preserving the lead. Meanwhile, the Warriors defense was doing much the same to us! Even with Tye’s efforts on the scramble, we managed just 3.3 yards a run.

The Legion offense managed to eat enough clock on their next drive that despite not scoring, they gave the Warriors almost no time left to try and score. Forced to throw, the Legion defense brought the pressure and it was Dylan who applied the coup de grâce (photo above). His fourth down sack of the QB in the Warriors endzone gave the Legion a safety to make the score 10-6 and we knew the game was won.

Nate came on as backup QB, a team captain and as a senior player aging out in his last few moments of u19 football. He was given the honour of kneeling out the last few seconds and the National Championship for 2026 belonged to the South East Legion!

The other semi-final

South Wales Warriors vs Yorkshire

The 3rd/4th place playoff game

North East vs Yorkshire