Crawshaw Academy and Corpus Christi Catholic College both came away with silverware in the Leeds and Hunslet Schools finals at John Charles Centre for Sport with two hard fought wins against teams from Brigshaw High School
Crawshaw Academy and Brigshaw High School, who are still competing in the Yorkshire stages of the RFL’s Champion Schools competition as seeded teams for Leeds, were looking to take home the first silverware of the year with the Goldthorpe Cup on the line in the first final of the night at South Leeds Stadium.
In a lively opening, Crawshaw took the early initiative in the game scoring four unanswered tries with a big contribution from Captain Nick Staveley, who completed a first half hat-trick on the back of some rampaging carries for his side, taking the scores to 20-0 at half time.
With the scoreline getting away from Brigshaw, the half time period provided a chance for the East Leeds school to regroup and with tries from Ethan Spears, Ethan Edgell and Jacob Dakeyne, Brigshaw mounted a comeback in the second period bringing the scores within one converted try.
Despite their best efforts, Brigshaw eventually succumbed to further tries from Staveley including a score close to the line in the dying moments from a tap penalty giving his side an eventual 36-28 win.
In the second final of the evening Corpus Christi, who have a team in four of the five Leeds and Hunslet Schools finals this year took on another team from Brigshaw in the year 10 final for the Wilson Cup.
Again both teams would be playing their 2nd round Yorkshire Cup fixtures in the same week representing Leeds as two of the best sides in the city and the contest showed there wasn’t much between the two sides.
In a tighter affair, Brigshaw’s high pressure defensive line limited the field position early on for Corpus who eventually found a gap in the line on 20 minutes with David Gibbons outpacing his marker outwide to score from 60 meters out to give his side a 4-0 lead.
Following a successful conversion under the posts, Brigshaw then continued to apply the pressure in the Corpus half and constructed their own score mid-way through the first half with an incisive move from one side of the pitch to the other, scoring in the corner to leave the scores 4-6.
With the conversion missed, Brigshaw opted to kick their next penalty opportunity close to half time but couldn’t convert and went into the break with the scoreline the same.
The second half proved to be equally close fought with the two teams trading scores with tries from Kian Linley and Nathan Carter for Corpus and Kirk Belgio for Brigshaw, but Brigshaw couldn’t overturn their East Leeds counterparts, eventually losing out 18-16.
To cap off a fantastic night of Rugby played by all teams, Leeds Rhinos star Anthony Mullally was on hand to present medals and trophies to the teams.
Leeds and Hunslet Schools competition continues next week with the year 7,9 and 11 finals at John Charles Centre for Sport.
Full details below:
Year 7 – Gilston Cup L&H Schools Champions of Champions Final – Brigshaw School v Corpus Christi Catholic College 4.10pm KO
Year 9 – Harrison Shield L&H Schools Champions of Champions Final – Corpus Christi Catholic College v Abbey Grange Academy 5.10pm KO
Year 11 – Hector Crowther L&H Schools Champions of Champions Final – Corpus Christi Catholic College v Bruntcliffe Academy 6.20pm KO