Brigshaw High School’s Year 10 team have made history this year by becoming the first team from the school to reach the National stages of the RFL’s Champion Schools Competition
Brigshaw have worked closely with the Leeds Rhinos Foundation again in 2016, utilising the guidance of East Leeds Development Officer Ian Hardman, who helped prepare school years’ 7-10 for their school competitions this year.
In a successful year for the school on the pitch, Brigshaw’s Year 10 team reached the finals of the Leeds and Hunslet schools competition in December, losing out narrowly to Corpus Christi, but have maintained their form in the Champion Schools competition to safely navigate the first three rounds of the regional stages.
Open to every secondary school in England, Wales and Scotland for girls and boys – the Champions Schools is Rugby League’s most prestigious competition and has provided the curtain raiser to the Challenge Cup final since 2002, when the tournament was re-launched by the RFL and the English Schools Rugby League.
Brigshaw’s route to the latter stages of the Yorkshire Cup saw them defeat Thornton Beckfoot from Bradford in Round 1, Rastrick School from Halifax in Round 2 and win away in Hull for the first time ever, with a convincing 22-4 win against Archbishop Sentamu school in the third round.
P.E Leader at Brigshaw Paul Brennan commented on a ground breaking year for the school across all year groups:
“The Year 10s have beaten Thornton Beckfoot 40-10 in round won, Rastrick School 18-16 in round 2 and also won away for the first time ever in Hull in round 3 beating Archbishop Sentamu 22-4, which is a great achievement for the team.
“We are now due to play our Yorkshire Semi Final next week and then our first National Round game in February, so we are preparing for those games this week.
Coaching support from the Leeds Rhinos Foundation, which is funded by Mears, has helped see the school make positive strides in the last two years working with Featherstone Rovers player and Level 2 Coach Ian Hardman as Brennan explains:
“Support from the Foundation has been fantastic! Ian worked with us all day on a Monday and Tuesday Period five for the first seven weeks of term. His expertise and knowledge has been invaluable.”
The school have seen unprecedented success in Rugby across the board this year with all school years breaking new ground in their school competitions:
“It has been a very successful year for rugby at Brigshaw High School with all school years qualifying for the Champions Schools which has never been done before and all of our teams reaching at least the second round which again has never been done before at the school,” added Brennan.
“Our Year 9s lost narrowly to a very strong Carlton side in the third round of Champion Schools and missed out on a National cup draw and our Year 7, 8, 10 and Year 11 teams all made the Leeds and Hunslet School Cup Finals as well.”
For more information on Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Rugby League Development Plan for Leeds visit: http://www.leedsrhinosfoundation.org/sport/rl_development_plan.php