Kingsbridge

Kingsbridge Area Primary Schools Tag Rugby Tournament

This annual tournament was held at Belle Hill on the 15th June. Ten teams took part with all the children playing their hearts out. The group was divided into two pools.

In pool A: Loddiswell emerged the clear winners over Stokenham who narrowly beat Salcombe and Kingsbridge ‘A’ by virtue of a higher number of tries and Malborough fielding a brave young team from their Year 3 & 4’s came 5th.

In Pool B: Thurlestone and East Allington’ A’ scored the same points but Thurlestone scored more tries to give them first place. Charleton, narrowly lost 2 matches and came 3rd. Kingsbridge B, 4th and East Allington ‘B’ 5th.

The second round saw the schools achieving 3rd, 4th and 5th places in their pools playing each other. Malborough playing East Allington ‘B’ won 4-2. Kingsbridge’A’ beat Kingsbridge’B’ 4-0 and Salcombe beat Charleton 2-1.

The third round was the deciding round for the top four positions. The winner of each pool playing the runner up of the other. Loddiswell beat East Allington’A’ by 7-2 and Thurlestone beat Stokenham by 5-1.

The 3rd and 4th place final was between East Allington ‘A’ and Stokenham. A very close end to end match resulted in the narrowest of winning margins for East Allington 3-2 over Stokenham. The final schools competing for the shield were Loddiswell and Thurlestone. This game could not have been any closer or more exciting and the final result a draw 5-5. Each school was declared the winner and the shield will be shared.

The final results:

1st Loddiswell and Thurlestone
3rd East Allington A
4th Stokenham
5th Salcombe
6th Charleton
7th & 8th Kingsbridge
9th Malborough
10th East Allington B

Matches throughout the afternoon showed how skilful the children were, how they were developing tactics and working out ways of beating their opponents as each match progressed. They were all played with an excellent spirit of sportsmanship and fair play.

Boys in the past have always seemed to take the lead in this sport, but today, it was particularly impressive how the performance of the girls played a significant role in the success of their teams. The teams were stronger as a result.

The matches were refereed by Stuart Reed, Mark Lidstone, Chris Drew and Richard Harris from Salcombe Rugby Club. My grateful thanks go to them for their effort and energy in ensuring that playing by the rules was consistent and fair. Thanks also to Sue Ansley for organising the draw and all the paperwork and Giselle Ansley and Helen Pring from KCC for scoring and line running.

Next year competition in Tag Rugby will lead towards the Devon Finals. The competition will be between all schools in the Dartmouth, Ivybridge and Kingsbridge areas. Our Kingsbridge family will host our own competition for Years 3 & 4 to play for the shield in this way more children will have a chance to represent their schools.

Cath Drew, Kingsbridge SSCo