Year 7 Sirius Academy West Girls RL Team finish 3rd in the Yorkshire Group

[13 Mar 2017]

After finishing top in the Hull Schools Tournament last month, the Year 7 Girls unfortunately finished third in their group at the Yorkshire Finals which meant they missed out on a place in the semi-finals.
 
Templemoor 4 Sirius Academy West 10
The tournament started well for Sirius West girls as they went over for an early try in their first game. Some great strong runs from Leah Pearson and Lucy Parker dragged in the defence and great vision from Mia Cheeseman saw her find the gap and round the defence, Chantelle Dunn converted the try. Templemoor had some big strong girls and replied well with a try of their own, but the conversion was missed. More good defence from Talia Martinez and Beth Waters kept Templemoor out in their next set. Sirius sealed the game in the later stages when Nicole George went over after a great offload from Lucy Parker. The conversion was missed but it made no difference to the result as the Sirius side had won their first game 10 – 4.
 
Castleford Academy 8 Sirius Academy 0
In a really evenly matched game both sides looked after the ball well and really made the other team work hard in defence. Tegan Purdon and Jess Wood tackled well in defence against some very strong Castleford players. Lucy Parker had to leave the field of play with a slight knee injury and the Castleford capitalised on this as their big players got them near the tryline and crashed over. Sirius had a great chance to equalise but was held up over the line. Castleford made their way down the field again and managed to go over in the corner for the try that made the final score 8 – 0 to the Castleford side.
 
Cockburn 12 Sirius Academy 8
Sirius knew they needed to beat Cockburn or at least draw with them if they were to stand any chance of getting into the semi-final. Sirius started the game well with a fine individual try from Nicole George as she found the gap and went over for an early score, conversion was missed. Cockburn had one strong and fast player who proved too much for the Sirius side when she broke through down the left hand side, conversion was successful to make the score 6 – 4 in their favour. Sirius Academy responded well and some great footwork from Chantelle Dunn got them back in the lead again showing real determination to go in at the corner. Conversion missed so Sirius had a narrow lead of 8 – 6. They just needed to defend their last set of six, but the same girl broke through to win the game for Cockburn.
 
Sirius Academy 16 Settle 0
With the games so tight in the league Sirius were informed that it may go down to points scored as three teams battled it out for the second spot. The girls were given a real boost by this news and started to play some fantastic rugby. An early try was scored to settle the nerves as Mia Cheeseman again saw a gap and scooted over to make it 4 – 0. The defence of the Sirius side was outstanding as Nicole George worked overtime at marker to ensure no yards were made from the Settle side. The introduction of Louise Jessop was a plus point in defence as Sirius did everything they could to keep a clean sheet. In attack the yards forward made with quick play the balls got the Sirius side into good field position and Nicole George got a well-deserved try that Chantelle Dunn converted. Mia Cheeseman rounded off the scoring and the conversion was successful as Sirius ran in 16 points and conceded 0 in probably their best performance of the competition.
 
Sirius watched the Cockburn v Templemoor game closely as if Templemoor won then Sirius would go through on points difference. In a close game Templemoor looked to have won the game but unfortunately for us the girl threw the ball down over the line rather than placing it down which meant that Cockburn would win the game and go through in second place.
 
In their first Yorkshire Competition the Year 7 Girls can be very proud of their performance. They must have been the smallest sized team at the tournament but they certainly made up for it in heart and determination. Today wasn’t their day but they can certainly hold their heads up high, they showed real potential and I am sure in future tournaments they will be coming away victorious.
 
Please congratulate the girls on their superb attitude and performance:-
1 – Lilly Sheperdson
2 – Beth Waters
3 – Tegan Purdon
4 – Louise Jessop
5 – Maddison Mcgrath
6 – Jess Wood
7 – Chantelle Dunn
8 – Nicole George
9 – Mia Cheesman
10 – Lucy Parker
11 – Lucy Stewart
12 – Talia Martinez
13 – Leah Pearson
14 – Alicia Coggill
15 – Olivia Wivell

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