The Leeds Rhinos Foundation ran the Girls Year 7 and 8 ‘War of the Roses’ qualifiers tournament at Hunslet Club Parkside on Wednesday 1st April with five teams in action on the day all looking to qualify to play teams from the counterpart event ran by the Wigan Warriors Foundation
Pupils from Leeds West Academy, Bruntcliffe School, Morley Academy, Allerton High and Corpus Christi Catholic College attended the contact rugby festival for year 7 and 8 girls playing a round robin tournament to see who would come out on top, with some excellent skills and great attitudes on show from the girls who were a credit to their schools.
Allerton High were new to contact rugby having only played touch rugby leading up to the event but showed plenty of promise with some great rugby for their first exposure to the new format with some outstanding efforts and a willingness to get everybody involved.
Corpus Christi Catholic College entered a team of only year 7 pupils playing at times against teams with only year 8 pupils in and faired admirably during the encounters. Corpus Christi finished third overall but as a team who can field a year 7 only team, will play against the Wigan Warriors year 7 Plate winners in July in Wigan.
Bruntcliffe and Leeds West Academy were also outstanding and both played some excellent rugby league in cold and windy conditions. They had some very physical strong players and look like they will be strong contenders in the Summer competitions for year 7/8 girl’s rugby league in Leeds.
Leeds West Academy were runners up losing by only one try to Morley academy in their final game, the team who had not been beaten all afternoon. Bruntcliffe had some very close results and losing out by one try against Corpus Christi Catholic College saw them finishing fourth.
Morley Academy were the qualifiers and won all of their games at the festival. Leeds West Academy were the team to push them close only losing to them by one try but Morley Academy were consistently good throughout the tournament and were eventual winners with no losses.
Morley Academy Year 8 and Corpus Christi Catholic College year 7's will travel to Wigan Warriors along with a Year 9 and Year 10 Leeds Girls school who are yet to be confirmed to play in the War of the Roses competition run in partnership with Super League Foundation Wigan Warriors on Thursday 9th July 2015.
Lois Forsell, Women and Girls Rugby League Development Officer said:
"The most pleasing part of the tournament was to see so many girls who have received curriculum time coaching in their PE lessons earlier this year as part of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation 3 year plan. There were 20 participants in total whom had received curriculum coaching this year with Lois as part of their PE lesson and were all excelling and creating pathways for many more years of participation in rugby league in school or at a club."
To find out more about getting involved with Girls Rugby League in the Leeds area contact: Lois.Forsell@Leedsrugby.com