Our Year 9 boys became the sixth St Edmund Arrowsmith team to be crowned NW Champions by beating our local rivals St Peter's 15-10 in the final at Widnes on Saturday 16th January. It was a tremendous performance and an outstanding achievement for this team. We are so proud of them all.
This team has made big improvements this season and thoroughly deserved a place in their first cup final. In Year 7 and Year 8 they lost in the North West quarter-finals, so it was a massive step forward to reach the North West final, which also earned them a place in the draw for the National Champion School Cup. Their improvement has come as a result of working hard at their basic skills in PE lessons and training sessions, and through a lot of hard work, effort and determination. They knew they had a very tough assignment in the final against our local rivals St Peter's, the current National Champions, but they showed a very positive attitude in their preparation for the match and were determined to give it their best shot on Saturday.
In the earlier rounds of this season's NW Counties Cup they beat St Peter's (Manchester) 48-0, Wade Deacon (Widnes) 46-10, Haydock (St Helens) 22-14, and in the semi-final beat Saddleworth (Oldham) 30-4.
Try scorers in the final were Connor Law, Kieron Swannick and Warren Paladino, with Owen Birch kicking a conversion and a drop goal. Man of the Match was Adam Lavin.
Thank you to all parents, families, pupils, staff and supporters for your backing at Widnes on Saturday. It was a great lift for the team to hear you cheering them to a 15-10 victory after being 10-0 down at half-time. A special thanks to Mike Hughes of Hughes Bros Builders who generously provided and sponsored a new kit for the final.
To win the final was a brilliant performance from the team. Well done lads! We are all very proud of you.
Please see our school rugby website for further reports and pictures from the final and for news of all our rugby teams past and present: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/stedmundarrowsmith
Match action videos:
Tries:
Team pics and action photos:
http://www.dephoto.biz/Search/Search.aspx?Path=Rugby%5CNW%20Schools%20Rugby%20League%5C2016%5CNW%20Champion%20School%20Finals%20Widnes%2016th%20Jan#.Vp87uLsgGc1
Team celebration on YouTube
