Tag Rugby Tournament Write Up
Following their efforts at the ‘Family’ Tag-rugby day on the 17th November, St John’s were entered into the West Essex Tag Rugby Tournament, which would take place at the Police Ground at Chigwell one Friday the 1st December. There were 4 teams in our group from various schools around the Epping Forest area: Buckhurst hill primary, HillHouse, Staples Road and of course St John’s C of E; with each game lasting eight minutes in total.
St John’s first played against Hill House where the communication and evasion coaching lessons had made their impact with an immediate try! Hill House were not so easily dismissed and quickly returned with a try of their own, making it one all. With some fantastic plays from both sides, neither team wanted to give in! However, the final result was 5-1 to us; our scorers were William Truss scoring two, josh and Flynn with one each and Luke Curtis with the final try to end the game.
The second game continued with high spirits and the team were eager to play after a short break. The numerous coaching lessons really paid off for St John’s in the match against Staples Road, with ferocious tagging, pace, evasion and great communication we were able to finish with a respectable nine tries. However Staples Road made St John’s work for every try, pushing St john’s back to their 5 metre line. With a turn-over ball Mikaeel Lodhi was able to turn the tide and sprinted from try line to try line securing an early try! This was shortly followed with a fantastic pick up from the floor by Sonny Royce who then carried the ball over the try line. The final score was 9-0 with Mikaeel Lodhi, Maddie Paulin and Sam Start all scoring one try each; Josh, Luke Curtis and William Truss each scored two tries.
St John’s third match proved to be a very intense with Buckhurst Hill Primary attacking and tagging as ferociously as St John’s. Buckhurst hill Primary within seconds almost came to a try, although the sideline ref blew the whistle for out of touch (this would prove to be a fortunate error for St John’s). It was 5-5 and the scorers were Scarlett Lazarus, Evelyn Brown, William Truss, and Luke Curtis scoring the final two.
After that we played Buckhurst Hill Primary other team who had also made it through the pool stage. The result was 3-5 to Buckhurst Hill Primary; William Truss was able to evade his way through the entire team, not once but twice! This brilliant show of resilience when we were 3-0 down inspired the team to continue. Even though William’s second attempt at a try fell just short with an incorrect placing of the ball over the try line he and all of the St John’s team persevered and scored two quite amazing tries! The try scorers were; William Truss, Luke Curtis and Flynn. Shea Steward scored two. Our final match was against Leverton Primary. This was a particularly important match as it was the decider for 3rd or 4th place. With a shaky start, Scarlett Lazarus turned the ball over and ran from try line to the 5 metre line dodging almost all that came her way. With the try line so close and the various team-members to support, a try was imminent. The final score deciding 3rd and 4th position came down to the last minute, with the score being 4-3 to St John’s we just needed to defend for a little while longer, however, Lerverton’s attack was fierce. The whistle blew and the match was over. The final score was 4-3 to us. The try scorers were; mIkaeel Lodhi, Scarlett Lazarus and William Truss.
Throughout the tournament, St John’s pace with the ball and all round attacking play was superb. In each game we managed to secure an early try which gave us a welcomed confidence boost. This meant that we were able to break defensive lines down extremely quickly. Mr Dorrell also noticed the tremendous all round defensive efforts by St John’s which enabled us to hold back fierce attacking plays. With a fantastic effort from all, St John’s secured well respected third position in the Bowel tournament.
On the other side of the field an equally hard-fought tournament taking place, with St John’s placing second in the Cup Tournament. It was becoming an increasingly intense game, unfortunately we were not able to achieve the last few points we needed to secure victory in the cup tournament. With our heads held high, there were smiles all around because of the achievements everyone had made. Throughout the tournament all of St John’s demonstrated real maturity after each match, shaking hands with all opposite player, coaches and the referee. Mr Dorrell, Miss Watkins and Mr Perez were all very impressed with the way the players represented St John’s C of E Primary School, and look forward to next year’s games!