Year 7 Rugby

I took 14 very excited and enthused Year 7 students to Garforth Academy on Thursday 4 May 2023. The atmosphere on the bus was electric and the boys were looking forward to trying to improve their performance from earlier in the year.

There were 8 schools there in total and we were split into 2 groups of 4. We played 3 games and the team never took a backward step no matter how difficult they were finding it.

First, we played Carr Manor. We struggled at the start, still adjusting to the rules of rugby and Carr Manor scored first. With some fantastic defence we were able to keep them at bay for the majority of the game. James Kaba took on their whole team and scored a full length try as he managed to show off his pace and power to bring us even on the score board. Unfortunately, Carr Manor were able to score again in the final play of the game to win 2-1.

We then played Farnley Academy. Farnley had a number of players who play outside of school and looked like the favourites to win. It was a very intense game and a number of our team stood up and made some fantastic tackles in defence and fancy footwork in attack. We drew this game 3-3. This could have been very different if it wasn’t for Jack Hood’s efforts in defence once again, never giving up and ensuring that there was pressure on the attacking team as often as he could.

In the final game we played against John Smeaton and unfortunately we lost this game 5-2. The boys were not going to give up and with runs from Harry, Alex and James we were within touching distance from the try line on several occasions. James managed to again show his strength and power through the defence and score our first try of the game and Jack Hood was able to spot a weakness in their line and snipe through to score our second.

As it played out, Carr Manor finished 2nd in our group and Farnley came 1st, meaning that our best performances were against the best teams within our group. The team were amazing and should take a huge amount of pride in the determination they have shown throughout the tournament.

It doesn’t stop there… We have now been entered into the “Rhinos 9s Champions League” which will see the team having another opportunity to win some silverware in coming weeks. Hopefully another training session would see them dramatically improve and with the confidence they have gained I believe they could go far.

The moment of the night was the “best” tackle of the evening…

Emmanuel managed to get tackled by the attacking player carrying the ball as he ran straight over him, he bounced back up and was ready to go again which was fantastic to see.

Fantastic night, fantastic lads, and I look forward to taking them to the next tournament.

The team are:

Ellis Obosu, James Kaba, Sekou Kourouma, Alfie Morrison, Tiago Malu, Jack Hood, Emmanuel Pelo,
Harry Cawthorne, Aleksander Bogdanowicz, Kai Leeming, Riley Clark, Denzel Chimwara,
Chinonso Okunbor & Evan Whitford

Mr S Cooper