Tag Rugby Festival Success

Tirlebrook's two tag rugby teams took on the best from across Cheltenham in the annual Cheltenham and North Tewkesbury School Sports Networks' Tag Rugby Festival at Newlands Park.

Cheltenham and North Tewkesbury School Sports Network's Tag Rugby Festival @ Newlands Park - Wednesday, 21st March 2018

Tirlebrook headed over to Newlands Park with two teams as the only school representing Tewkesbury in the annual Cheltenham and North Tewkesbury School Sports Network's Tag Rugby Festival. The morning was spent competing in round-robin group stages against a number of schools from across the Cheltenham region. Our two teams played five matches each at this stage of the festival, with varying results. The older team, made up of players from Y6, won four out of five games, displaying excellent teamwork and some wonderful rugby skills as try after try was scored in victories against Prestbury St. Mary's, Andoversford, Swindon Village and Grangefield. They also played extremely well in a narrow 4-3 defeat to Winchcombe. Despite this, their excellent record helped them to qualify for the top-ranked knockout pool matches in the afternoon session. The younger team, made up of players from Y4, were participating in a festival at this standard for the very first time, and many of their opponents were teams made up of children from Years 5 and 6. Nevertheless, they were undeterred and put in a string of enthusiastic and determined performances, ending up drawing one match and losing four, although most of the matches were decided by the odd try (losing 2-1 to Leckhampton, 3-2 to Gretton, 4-1 to Christchurch, 4-0 to Warden Hill and drawing 4-4 with Winchcombe). Their performance was excellent and they encouraged each other throughout the event, improving performance-wise with each match. They qualified for a round-robin pool of matches in the second half of the festival. The afternoon brought some more excellent rugby to the fore, with the Y6 team playing with flair and composure as they won through each round of their top pool knockout group, defeating Winchcombe (who they had lost to earlier in the day), Bishop's Cleeve and Warden Hill, two by a golden try, to finish in first position in the festival overall out of an incredible 41 teams. This is a remarkable achievement. The Y4 team continued to play well in the afternoon, increasing in confidence as they picked up another draw against Grangefield (3-3) and lost narrowly to St. John's (3-2), Gretton (2-1) and Gardners' Lane (2-1). The end of the festival was a celebration of all that the children had achieved and the children were handed out RFU goodies. Leah Trust was picked out from the large number of participants for demonstrating the School Games value of 'Honesty', and a values band was presented to her by Gloucester Rugby's South African captain Willi Heinz. Overall, it was a terrific day and we are extremely proud of the children - their impeccable behaviour, their positive attitude towards their opponents and each other and their incredible effort in every rugby match was a delight to behold. Our children reflected the six School Games values during the festival from start to finish and the way they worked together as a team and supported each other was second to none. They never gave up, even when the matches were tough and at times they thought their opponents were playing unfairly or if decisions went against them. The children were a pleasure to accompany and they represented Tirlebrook wonderfully, something that we are of course accustomed to. Many thanks to Mrs. Assheton, Mrs. Gosden and Mr. Lockley for organising the event and for accompanying the children throughout the day. Congratulations!

Y6 Squad: Elliott Parsons (captain), Rachel Bagley, Ava Baker, Jack Ballinger, Molly Clarke, Alfie Cull, Oscar Guthrie, Charlie Hancox, Luke Sherbourne & Callum Trust

Y4 Squad: William Bethel (captain), Hattie Akerman, Owen Burford, Matthew Fowler, Oakley Hiorns, Isobel Mclaren, Joshua Smith, Rhys Thomas, Leah Trust & Finlay Whittard