Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Sky Try 9s High School Rugby League competition returned for the third consecutive year on Thursday 23rd February with the first qualifying festival of the campaign at Bruntcliffe Academy
16 schools turned out for the first tournament in the Year 9 age group to kick off the campaign which will culminate in a finals day at Headingley Carnegie Stadium on 24th May.
The weekly qualifiers will continue with the year 8 qualifiers at Leeds East Academy on 2nd March and year 7 at Crawshaw Academy a week later on the 9th March to round off the first qualifiers before each year group complete a further two qualifying rounds at more locations around city.
Under new rules for 2017, schools must play in two out of the three rounds to qualify to the Sky Try 9’s playoffs on 11th May at Lawnswood School where they will be grouped based on their performances in the previous rounds to play in the Sky Try Champions competition and Sky Try Cup Competition.
Playoffs night at Lawnswood will see the first trophies given out to teams successful in the Cup Competition with the Champions Competition schools playing for a top two spot and the chance to play at Headingley Carnegie Stadium on the 24th May to be crowned overall champions for year 7, 8 and 9.
The competition organised and staffed by the Leeds Rhinos Foundation has been devised to offer schools the opportunity compete in more competitive rugby during the school year, through the small sided games that use a 9' a side format, all to encourage teams to rotate players and get more pupils involved in the sport.
A total of 25 schools will take part in the competition this year at 11 venues to continue the development of High School Rugby League in the city.
For details on the competition contact Lois.Forsell@leedsrhinosfoundation.org