Year 9 Rugby

Monday 16th January was fantastic day for our Year 9 Rugby team, who made it into the finals hosted by Leeds Rhinos at their training facility in Kirkstall. Unfortunately, we were not able to come away with the result we wanted, however, the players showed some real heart and determination.

Most of the boys had never played rugby before their first tournament in September, they have shown great sportsmanship and determination as they competed against schools from Leeds with their physicality and athleticism. They were playing against teams that were more established and understood the game better. Our first game was against the winning school and saw us have 2 disallowed tries, which would have seen us win the game. In the end we lost 2 tries to 1.

We then went on to draw our other two games, 1-1 and 0-0. The boys were absolutely fantastic throughout. As expected, they banded together to play one of their best games of rugby to try and finish 2nd in the tournament. Unfortunately, with a scoreless last game we ended up finishing 3rd out of 4.

The fact that our team has made the finals, having never played together before, is an amazing achievement. Throughout they have shown some fantastic sportsmanship and have taken every bit of advice on board to better their performances. With a little more training I believe that their next tournament in April will see them rise to success and again make it to the finals of another tournament. Providing they engage with the sessions that are provided within school I have extremely high hopes that next time they will bring back the trophy to be champions of Leeds in the Rhinos 9s tournament.

I cannot fault the team, they have been fantastic to work with and their dedication to the competition has been amazing. I really hope they continue to engage with Rugby as they all have a natural ability for the sport. Once again they have reminded me why I give up my time to coach them within school, it has truly been a pleasure to work with them.

S Cooper