Fifteen schools from across the region celebrated the England Saxons versus Italy A fixture at the home of the Warriors by taking part in a tag festival – with many playing on the stadium pitch at half-time during the international.
Young rugby hopefuls from Years 5 and 6 from schools across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire took part with some very close group matches taking place on Cummins Farm.
Leigh and Bransford won group A followed by St Laurence while Woodfield and Hempstead prevailed in Group B. Brockhampton eased through group C taking Suckley with them while Group D was a tight affair, with Powick and St Bartholomews progressing to the cup competition.
After the group matches the teams went into two competitions – the cup (for teams ranked one and two in the group) and the plate (for teams ranked 3 and 4 in the group).
Burley Gate, St Richards, and St Johns progressed to the semi-finals of the plate competition at the expense of Lindridge, Benegeworth and Holy Trinity while Powick received a bye. The semi-finals were closely contested affairs, but eventually St Richards and Powick emerged to contest the Plate final. The final itself proved to be titanic struggle with both teams playing extremely well. Eventually St Richards claimed the Plate title winning 7-6.
The Cup competition was also extremely competitive with Leigh and Bransford contesting the final against Brockhampton. Both had to battle hard in their respective semi-finals to overcome the threat of Woodfield and Kempsey. The final ebbed and flowed, as both teams sought to gain the upper hand, but in the end, just like the Plate final, a single point separated the two teams with Leigh and Bransford victorious.
The teams then made their way to the stadium to watch the international between England Saxons and Italy A. Eight of the schools were then drawn out of the hat and invited to showcase their talents by playing demonstration games at half-time in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd.
“It was a really memorable day at Worcester Warriors and we were delighted that so many young rugby players not only got to take part in the tag festival but were also inspired to keep playing the game by watching the stars of England and Italy play out an entertaining international,” said Steve Joslin, Community Rugby Manager at Warriors.