MINCHINHAMPTON U12s may have missed out on appearing at the Aviva Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham by a single try but starlet Jonny McLaughlan insists it was a memorable weekend at a festival organised by Gloucester Rugby.

McLaughlan and Minchinhampton U12s had been hoping to head to Twickenham on May 27 to join in a Land Rover Cup parade during half-time of the Aviva Premiership final – but it wasn’t to be despite a strong performance at Dean Close School.

They were one of more than 30 teams that took part in the festival, including Cirencester and Stow-on-the-Wold.

Tries by Ioan Jones (2), MacLaughlan and Jake Spain set up a 4-0 Minchinhampton win in the opening group match against Longlevens while Archie Powis, Liam Morgan, James Harwanko and Jacob Lee (2) were the scorers in a 5-0 victory over Tewkesbury.

The final group game saw St Brendans threaten but their attacks were thwarted by a solid defence led by Taner Alpan and Harrison Powell.

Sam Grimsted and Wilf Mylechreest were unlucky not to score before Ioan Jones’ brace and Ruari Fryer’s try from distance sealed a 3-0 win.

With the four group winners into a round robin group, Minch enjoyed a tight game with Old Pats but conceded their only try of the day as the final hooter sounded to lose 1-0.

Old Pats drew with Cirencester as the tension rose ahead of the Minch v Ciren clash.

Harry Hepburn and Luc Dangerfield made good attacks against Cirencester before Jack Ordway-Hughes, Tomas Pressey and MacLaughlan all crossed for a 3-0 victory.

Tries by Pressey, MacLaughlan and Jones led to a subsequent 3-0 win over Cheltenham, but it was Old Pats who lifted the cup after also beating Cheltenham.

“It’s been really fun apart from the one try that we conceded which was really annoying,” said 12-year-old McLaughlan.

“We did well as a unit, we tackled well and rucked well and passed the ball out – but maybe not enough – but the defensive line was good.

“We’ve come a long way since the start of the season, and even last season, it’s the same group pretty much in the two seasons we’ve been together."

Jack Thorn, whose Cirencester side also just missed out, said: “I thought it was a really close tournament, but we did well and were pleased to get into the top pool.

“We’d been working really well until the last game which we lost but we did well up until then and maybe got a bit tired.

“We’ve been taught how to ruck by another team because ours wasn’t very good but we’ve learnt a lot by playing multiple games so closely together.

“I love the sport, love the contact and how you work as a team to win games. I’ve had a really good time.”

Meanwhile, Stow player Fletcher Watts added: "We lost a few games which can be a bit disheartening but I think we played really well overall and it's all about improving at the end of the day.

“We have improved a lot and learned a lot about to some of the new players coming into our team as well.

“I think that we've got better and better and we got up to full pace late on. It's nice that every team gets to play the same amount."

Launched during the 2008-09 season, the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup is the first national grassroots tournament officiated by Premiership Rugby and run in conjunction with all 12 clubs.

Land Rover is a proud supporter of grassroots rugby and has been a partner of the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup for nearly a decade.