Year 8 Rugby

On 16 May I took 11 students to Bruntcliffe Academy for the Rhinos 9’s Super League Play Offs.

This is the first time, for a number of years, that a MSM team has made it through to the “Super League play offs” for the Rhinos 9’s tournament. Our team are now placed within the top 8 school teams for their age group within Leeds.

Unfortunately, we have not placed high enough to qualify for the finals at Headingley Stadium, however, the passion and camaraderie the boys have shown gives me hope for next year!

We were one of 7 teams in attendance, meaning we had to play 6 games of rugby with very little rest between matches.

We started with a very difficult game against Leeds West. We were able to get the better of them with our physicality and pace, scoring 2 very early tries. Unfortunately, they were able to find their feet and score 3 unanswered tries to win the game, so we lost 3-2. This was a similar story for our next 2 games, losing by one try each game, but the team’s passion could never be faulted. One of those games was against the tournament runners up who only lost to the overall winners. With passions running high we went into our final 2 games against Garforth Academy and Carr Manor, wishing for a win. Exceptional carries from James, Jack and Harry put us on the front foot, cutting through the defence at every opportunity we had. We won our last 2 games of the tournament 5-3 and 5-2. This left us in joint 4th and 5th place at the end of the tournament.

Whilst the team were feeling slightly disheartened, they found joy in finishing mid table as no other MSM team has done this for quite some time.

I could not pick a better bunch of MSM students to take out to represent our school. They played with their hearts on their sleeves and gave their absolute all during every minute of every game they played. I hope that despite the upset they have experienced, they continue to attend training on a Tuesday night, giving them the opportunity to continue to grow into the game, hopefully maintaining the passion that I have seen in them over the last 2 years.

We have recently had Luke Littlewood, a former MSM student, join them at training in school to encourage them to join his team at East Leeds Rugby Club. Should any of our students decide to take him up on this offer I believe next year we will be a team not to be messed with.