The Springbank Rugby team have had a busy couple of weeks with the season beginning to draw to an end. Our mixed team of Year 5 and 6 boys and girls travelled to the John Charles Centre for Sport to take part in the Leeds finals of 'tag' rugby. As winners of the West Leeds tournament they were taking part against all the other winners from around the region. A solid defence saw them win enough group games to get through to the semi-finals but they were ultimately beaten at that stage to finish fourth overall. It was still a hugely impressive finish, however, for a school that has only really been playing rugby for the last two or three years and all the players involved could hold their heads high. As a result of their fourth-place finish they now have the honour of representing Leeds in a final competition at Leeds Metropolitan University on July 8th.  

Leading on from the success of the 'tag' team we also took part in our first ever full contact rugby tournament, The Culley Sevens, at Stanningley Rugby Club. The transition from tag to contact is huge and it was certainly a massive learning curve for our players. Facing teams from Hunslet who play contact week-in-week-out was a daunting prospect but our team held their heads high. They were beaten in their first two games, but only by one or two tries, and crucially they were scoring and tackling their hearts out. One try masterminded by Jack Hennigan and Charlie Bennett even drew a round of applause from the watching schools with one coach commenting that it was the 'try of the day.' Our third game in the knock-out stages ended with our first win where Luke Woodend provided a domineering display of power and fierce tackling. We were finally undone in the next game against a very well organised side to finish our competition but we are very proud to have recorded Springbank's first ever contact team in recent memory. Well done lads!