Last week 200 children from local primary schools enjoyed an afternoon of Tag Rugby at St. Ives Rugby Club’s Somersham Road ground. The ‘Tag Rugby’ tournament, organised jointly by St. Ives Rugby Club, the Huntingdon Schools Sport Partnership and Huntingdonshire District Council’s Leisure Development team, was a celebration of the Rugby World Cup currently being played out in France.
Eighteen teams of boys and girls represented their allotted country, with an array of flags and colours on display, along with performances of the haka by both New Zealand and Samoa! A large contingent of teachers and supporters were on hand to enjoy the afternoon, during which the children demonstrated some superb rugby skills and where even the rain showers couldn’t dampen spirits. There were some closely contested encounters, with some high scoring matches and all games were played with great heart and spirit. The children’s enthusiasm for the sport, which was new to many of them, shone through and their performances didn’t disappoint anyone.
The schools taking part were Abbots Ripton (South Africa), Ashbeach (England), Wheatfields (Tonga), Thongsley Fields (Samoa), Brampton (Australia), Hemingford Grey (Wales), Thorndown (Fiji), Godmanchester (Japan), Stukeley Meadows (Canada), Westfield (New Zealand), Ramsey (Scotland), Middlefield (Italy), Huntingdon Junior (Romania), Houghton (France), Holywell (Ireland), Bury (Argentina), St. Anne’s (Namibia) and Folksworth (Georgia).
Matches were played in four pools, with the pool winners progressing to the knockout stages. The first semi-final saw Samoa play New Zealand, with a ‘face off’ between both teams delighting the crowd with their own versions of the ‘haka’ preceding a thrilling match, won eventually 6 - 4 by New Zealand after a strong come back by the ‘islanders’ from 4-0 down! The second semi-final was between Australia and Namibia, with Namibia running out winners by 7 - 3.
Bright sunshine bathed the scene for the final, which was a very hard-fought contest, with the lead changing hands several times. At the end of normal time the scores were level and so the game moved in to a sudden death situation, which saw New Zealand breaking away to clinch victory 5-4.
‘Fair Play’ points were awarded throughout all the matches with trophies for the winners in each pool.
The winners of the pool ‘Fair Play’ trophies were as follows:
Pool A - Tonga (Wheatfields)
Pool B - Canada (Stukeley Meadows)
Pool C - Scotland (Ramsey)
Pool D - France (Houghton)
Samoa (Thongsley Fields) was awarded the ‘Fair Play’ trophy from the knockout stages. All of the children participating received commemorative medals and certificates.
St. Ives senior coach, Alan Hine, commented on the high standard of rugby being demonstrated by the schools, several of whom are already looking forward to next year!
The organisers would like to thank everyone that supported the event, especially all the referees and helpers that gave up their time to make the event possible and to Fenland Trophies and HiruMed Limited for donating the awards.