This season has been an interesting and exciting one with ultimately success in the form of silverware to show for all the efforts put in by the players. In September 2009 a very powerful and athletic Year 9 squad competed in the Copeland District R.U tournament at St Bees defeating West Lakes Academy, St Bees and Whitehaven to become District Champions with the opportunity to compete against other Cumbrian District winners in the District Finals to be held in January 2010.
A friendly match took place against Cockermouth School and once again the team were successful inflicting a defeat on the Cockermouth XV. This victory by such a large margin had an impact upon the County Cup fixture for when the team were drawn against Cockermouth in an early round of the competition St Benedict’s progressed without having to fulfil the match.
In early 2010 the school represented Copeland in the County District R.U finals at Netherhall RUFC. In the first game St Benedict’s defeated Trinity 40 – 0; next match was against Queen Katherine and they were beaten 17 – 0. Lastly, the school defeated Keswick by 40 – 0. The performance of the team in this tournament was characterised by a very strong defence and quality first up tackling as well as the desire to move the ball through the hands as often as possible with an emphasis on strong, direct running and close support play in order to keep the ball available to move on.
In late February St Benedict’s represented Cumbria in the North West State Schools Finals at Trafford MV RFC. In the opening match the team defeated Wilmslow 10 - 0; next West Hill were beaten 19 – 0 and finally Cowley by 12 – 5. In the semi final the team experienced its first defeat of the season losing to Caldy 5 - 0.
As a result of being a semi finalist at the North West State School Finals and being the Cumbria County champions an invitation to take part in the Northern Counties U14 Festival at Tynedale RFC was received and accepted. In the Pool matches St Benedict’s defeated Harrogate Grammar by 12 - 0; then Ponteland High were defeated 31 – 5 and finally Hutton Grammar were beaten by 26 – 0. This led to the final against Bridgewater High and in a very hard fought match the boys experience only their second defeat of the season and it was also the first time that they hadn’t managed to score. Bridgewater High won by 19 – 0 and so added the Northern Counties Championship to the North West State Schools tournament that they had won at Trafford MV RFC. Callum Farrer (prop forward) was identified by the pool match referees as the outstanding forward and Luke Davidson (full back) and Callum Birdsall (centre) also received commendations as strong, direct runners. The team were also congratulated for their willingness to use the full width of the pitch when attacking.
Attention now turned to the County Cup semi final against Keswick and again in a very competitive match St Benedict’s overcame Keswick to progress through to the final to face Austin Friar’s from Carlisle. In the final played at Wigton RFC St Benedict’s defeated Austin Friars by 34 – 15 in a very keenly contested match. Austin Friars had a very strong, well drilled pack of forwards who were very powerful in the loose whilst St Benedict’s looked to use their direct running backline as much as possible and to spread the ball wide through quick handling. Greg Howland (winger) who scored a hat trick of tries in the semi final added a brace in the final and Jordan Burns (full back and captain) also scored two tries. Once again a feature of the team was their strong first up defensive tackling and their cover tackling once the line had been broken. In attack moving the ball quickly through the hands and supporting the ball carrier were important parts of the team strategy. Will Agnew (wing forward) and Kurtis Quinn (lock) played vital roles in both carrying the ball in attack as well as supporting the ball carrier in order to keep the ball moving.
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