St Mary’s Y7 & Y8 team took part in the emerging schools festival at Wallsend RFC today.
The Year 7 team played Churchill in a 15-a-side fixture over 2 30 minute halves, easily the longest and biggest game which many of the students had ever taken part in. The team quickly got used to the extra space and extra players and started to play some very good attacking rugby. Sam McDonald had the moment of the match, when he stole a loose ball at the halfway line. Quickly seeing he had a chance to make good ground he darted down the wing, beating several players thanks to a fantastic turn of pace, before narrowly outrunning the covering defenders to score a sensational solo try in the corner. St Mary’s defended well throughout the game, and managed to run in several more tries, eventually finishing comfortable winners 5-2.
Top performers on the day included Bobby Ramsey, Fred Eltringham and Sam McDonald but the whole team played brilliantly from start to finish.
Player of the Day – Sam McDonald – an excellent finish on his try, but was also very tough in defence for the entire game.
The Year 7 team:
Sam McDonald, Joseph McStay, Lewis Burd, Billy Cummins, Niall Boothroyd, Darragh O’Hare, Archie McConnell, Pico Mingstones, Bobby Ramsey (capt), Joe Ferguson, Jay Good, Fred Eltringham, Dylan Barclay, Peidar Amiramin, James Hepburn, Alsharif Almahdi, Edmund Kelly.
The year 8 team played 3 fixtures against Kenton, St Cuthbert’s and Churchill CC.
The boys started with a good victory against a strong Kenton side. Ben Jubb scored a fine individual effort from the first kick of the game, bursting through the defensive line and sprinting effortlessly away from the Kenton defence. St Mary’s did struggle initially with several big, powerful Kenton players, and conceded an equalising try shortly afterwards. Kevin Palliser Bosomworth and Alex Wharton took responsibility for making the first tackle and from then on St Mary’s dominated in both attack and defence. Alex managed to score two fine tries, showing excellent power to run through several Kenton tacklers as he charged over the line.
St Mary’s performed brilliantly again in game 2 against St Cuthbert’s and quickly opened up a two try lead thanks again to tries from Alex Wharton and Ben Jubb. The defence was much stronger from St Mary’s, with excellent organisation quickly shutting down the St Cuthbert’s attack. Luke Devlin was outstanding in defence, counter rucking brilliantly to disrupt St Cuthbert’s at each breakdown, making things very easy for the rest of the team to follow his fine example. Kevin Palliser Bosomworth ended a fine St Mary’s attack with a try of his own giving St Mary’s a fine 3-0 victory.
In the final match of the festival St Mary’s played Churchill in a winner takes all final group game. Still tired from their previous game the team started slowly and some powerful running from Churchill gave them a well-deserved try. The more experienced players in the team did well to organise and encourage their teammates, and St Mary’s hit back with 3 minutes to go to level the scores, with Alex Wharton powering over following some excellent quick ball from Harry Buggy. With 2 minutes to go St Mary’s stole the ball in the middle of the field, and made good ground quickly to get with 5m of the Churchill try line. Saqlain Ghaffar and Kevin Palliser were both turned away by the Churchill defence, but the ball was quickly recycled and passed wide for Ben Jubb to dive into the corner giving St Mary’s the 2-1 win and leaving them overall winners on the day.
There were several excellent performances on the day, including Ben Jubb, Alexander Wharton and Kevin Palliser Bosomworth.
Player of the Day – Luke Devlin – thanks to his excellent rucking and defensive play in every game played.
The Year 8 Team:
Alex Histed, Jamie Mundy, Saqlain Ghaffar, Ben Jubb, Kevin Palliser Bosomworth, Ethan Kortenbach, Alexander Wharton, James Houghton, Daniel Young, Damon Baghi, Harry Buggy, Jack Pilling, Luke Devlin, Riyad Islam, Matthew Duszeck.
