Year 3 and 4 Sparkling Rugby Tournament
Our first match was against Sherborne St John. Cliddesden started the game at a disadvantage as we were playing up hill. Our first try was scored by Ryan, quickly followed by Freddie then another great try by Ryan and Fred with a final try from Thomas. All involved in the match displayed exceptional team work.
Soon after, we started our second match against St Anne's. It was a fast paced game with the star of the show, Johnathan scoring both tries, it was an end-to-end game with the final score being 2-2.
Ready for our third match against Hatchwarren saw our team start by lying on their backs with Olivia standing up front. The referee blew his whistle, they all jumped up and the match started. James scored the first try, quickly followed by Carys then Thomas, Ryan with Thomas scoring the final try resulting in a victory for Cliddesden, 5-3.
Facing our fourth game against Burghclere which was a tough one with our team running up hill. We managed to keep it at a draw of 1-1, but were extremely unlucky not to have got a couple more tries. The team were fired up and looking forward to their next game.
The fifth match was against St Maryborne school, this match included players that hadn't played so far and resulted in a fantastic 3-2 win for Cliddesden. Tries from Ryan and Freddie. Some amazing team work with the ball being passed amongst the team resulting in 5 players being involved to get a try.
Our final match was against the Barbarians. This was an exhilarating game demonstrating great team work and resulting in 3-3 draw.
This was the first time in 5 years that Cliddesden had not been beaten throughout the tournament. Needless to say, the children, parents and Mr Stapleton were thrilled!
QUARTER FINAL
What an exciting match! The team were all pumped up as Cliddesden hadn't ever been in the finals! They started with the ball and Joe scored the first try, quickly followed by Freddie scoring 2 tries, with Ryan finally scoring the last one resulting in Cliddesden winning 4-2 and getting to the semi final.
SEMI FINAL
The team ran their socks off in this match with some fantastic team work by all involved. Ryan, Carys and Thomas managed to score 5 tries between them with the end result being a draw against St Martins School. Sudden death! Despite our grit, enthusiasm, determination and teamwork, we lost to St Martins. Our team played went on to play for third place but unfortunately were beaten.
This is the best the Cliddesden Rugby team has done in 17 years and a 4th placing to be truly proud of.
By: Helaine Brownhill and Claire Saunders
