In front of a 5,500+ crowd during the half time interval of the Dragons V Edinburgh fixture at Rodney Parade all four teams competing in the finals produced some breath taking rugby with effort and commitment in abundance. Both games were very tense affairs with the score very close throughout.
Durand Primary v Langstone Primary – Tata Steel Challenge Cup Final
Dewstow Primary v Llanmartin Primary – Tata Steel Challenge Shield Final
Langstone pushed Durand all the way & Llanmartin Primary school provided a very stern test for Dewstow.
The result however, was a clean sweep by the Monmouthshire schools as Durand were crowned Tata Steel Challenge Tag Cup Champions 2015 and Dewstow were victorious in the Tata Steel Challenge Tag Shield Final. The youngsters were delighted that they had not only experienced playing on Rodney Parade but would be the proud champions for the whole year. The trophies, fair play awards, shield and cup were presented by Dragons Elliot Dee, James Benjamin and Tata Steel representative David Brown.
This annual competition has become a super event for all our Gateway School and the introduction of the new challenge shield added a new dimension to the competition. It was great to see the impact on so many youngsters and the sheer determination from both the boys and girls was outstanding.
The officials for the finals were our very own community officer, Janice Chappell and WRU accredited referee & son Lance Chappell who did a fine job and also selected the recipients of the fair play awards for each final. This resulted in the Fair Play Awards being presented to Kayne Rafferty of Langstone and Jake Hoffrock of Llanmartin who both led by example and worked very hard to the very end.
Mike Sage, tournament organiser, passed on his congratulations to the four schools during the presentation and highlighted that they had conducted themselves in a most professional manner and were a credit to their schools, their parents and themselves. The Challenge Trophy & Shield will now take pride of place in the trophy cabinets at Durand & Dewstow Primaries until next year’s grand final.
Many thanks to Tata Steel for again supporting, what has become the main schools annual tag tournaments in the region and the most sought after awards to be added to the schools trophy cabinet.
