Kirkby Stephen Primary School Qualify for National Finals Competition
Kirkby Stephen Primary School tag rugby team have reached the Tag 2 Twickenham Finals at Rugby School in July where the top 20 schools in the Country have the opportunity to compete for the prize of playing at Twickenham. The North West Area finals played at the Armitage Centre in Manchester in mid June saw the school come 2nd losing in the final to a very experienced Tarleton Team who have been to the finals once before. The result was not too important as both teams progressed to the finals being played at the birthplace of Rugby Union, Rugby School in Warwickshire on the 7th July, the winning teams from the day will have the chance to play in front of 82,000 at Twickenham, the home of Rugby Union.
The team qualified for the finals after winning the Eden Valley area in March and have had regular weekly coaching sessions form Upper Eden RUFC coach Andrew Johnstone.
The NW Competition consisted of the top 34 schools from the region, split into pools of 5 or 6, with matches lasting 6 minutes. The team made up of year 5 & 6 boys and girls played 5 group matches, winning 4 and losing one narrowly 4 tries to 3, qualified for the cup section as one of the four best runners up from six pools scoring 19 tries in the process.
In the later stages the tension mounted as all five teams lost one game with the finalists in Kirkby’s group being decided on tries scored, the team progressing to the final due to scoring 15 tries.
With time running out and the heat of the day catching up with all the players Kirkby were unable to reproduce their form that had got them to the final, loosing eventually 3 tries to one to a very well organised outfit. All the squad performed fantastically well, cheered on by enthusiastic supporters and parents. A trophy was presented to the team from current England Ladies international Sarah Hunter, who also answered questions and spoke to the children on the day about life as an England Ladies Rugby Player and preparations being made for The Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Cumbria Rugby Union are very proud of the Schools achievement and have supported their trip with a contribution of £250 towards their travel and accomodation costs. RFU Representative for Cumbria Roger Hackney was very supportive of the school and wishes them well on behalf of the County on the 7th.
The Team was:
Matthew Brass, George Johnstone, Thomas Burrell, Thomas Hall, Mark Tyson, Will & James Birkbeck, Imogen Hall, Rebecca Alderson, Georgina Harrison.
Picture - Andrew Johnstone
Words - Andrew Johnstone & Liam Nicholls
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