Sirius Academy West Year 11 Girls – National RL Champions!
Sirius Academy West Girls Year 11 RL National Champions
Sirius Academy West 30 Castleford Academy 22
The Sirius Academy West Year 11 Girls were crowned the best team in the country by beating a very strong Castleford Academy side 30 – 22 at Leigh Sports Village. This was the first time that this age group had reached this stage in the competition and they were determined to come out as National Champions in their last year of trying.
The game started well for Sirius as they scored off their first set of six in attack, with some great runs from Jorden Shakespear and Emily Savage from the first few tackles to create space for Kayleigh Waller to show her pace out wide and round the defence to score under the sticks. Castleford replied back immediately with a good try of their own. Both teams really tried to throw the ball around and play entertaining rugby, but both defences were looking solid as the game progressed. Carla Manuel and Georgia Travagli were strong in defence and looked well after Castlefords main threat down the middle. Paige Fletcher and Aimee Harris were looking dangerous when they came in from the wing and made some good yards forward, as well as Molly Bogby, who was showing her pace and agility to take on the line. Mia Duke was working overtime from the marker position and when Sirius won the ball back in a good area it was Duke who showed great vision to scoot through the gap and over in the corner. Castleford managed to get a try just before the halftime break, to make the score 12 – 8 in favour of Sirius Academy, thanks to two Kayleigh Waller successful conversions.
The second half started at a frantic pace and it was Sirius that managed to extend their lead, captain Shauna Jones provided an outstanding drop off to Jorden Shakespear, who showed her strength and speed to burst through the Castleford defence and go over the tryline. Castleford would not give up and got another try from close range. Saffron Jones, Shannon Thornton and Danielle Fulton were brought on for fresh legs and made an immediate impact as they took the ball up well and created space again for Kayleigh Waller to go over for her second try of the game. The scoreline was 24 -14 in favour of Sirius. A great break from Castleford saw Mia Duke perform a try saving tackle, but the player was quick to play the ball and close the gap on the scoreboard. Sirius needed some of the strong players to take the ball up, and the consistent Amelia Longden was a willing runner as she got well into the Castleford half. This set up another try for Jorden Shakespear, who found a gap and straightened up to score under the sticks. With the score at 30 – 18 Sirius needed to keep Castleford away from the tryline, but after a string of penalties in favour of the Castleford team they was unable to stop them from crashing over from close range. This made for a tense finish with only 8 points in it. With a few minutes remaining it looked like Castleford was going over in the corner, but Kayleigh Waller had other ideas as she bundled the player into touch before she could get the ball down. Safety for the next set of six was key and as the ball was kicked dead on the last tackle the hooter went and the girls celebrated their fantastic victory.
Please congratulate the squad on their fantastic achievement, they certainly deserve a lot of praise and I could not be more proud of them, it was a real squad effort to secure the status of being the Year 11 National Champions: Kayleigh Waller, Paige Fletcher, Amelia Longden, Shannon Thornton, Aimee Harris, Shauna Jones, Molly Bigby, Danny Fulton, Mia Duke, Saffron Jones, Jorden Shakespear, Georgia Wardell, Emily Savage, Georgia Travagli, Carla Manuel.
Special thanks to Miss Shaw for her continued support with the team.
