Hartlepool school pupils hailed after reaching finals of tag rugby competition

School pupils have been hailed after three primary schools in the north of Hartlepool enjoyed a fantastically successful tag rugby season.
Clavering Primary School mixed tag rugby team.Clavering Primary School mixed tag rugby team.
Clavering Primary School mixed tag rugby team.

Teams from Clavering Primary School and St Helen’s Primary School represented the town in the first-ever Girls-Only Tag Rugby Tees Valley Finals and teams from Clavering and Barnard Grove Primary School have represented Hartlepool in the Mixed Tag Rugby Tees Valley Finals.

The success all began with cluster competitions run across the town which led to the Girls-Only and Mixed Town Finals, both of which were held at West Hartlepool Rugby Football Club and were overseen by the town’s new School Games Organiser Kate Robinson.

Clavering Primary School girl's tag rugby team.Clavering Primary School girl's tag rugby team.
Clavering Primary School girl's tag rugby team.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Clavering girls won all of their matches to be crowned Town Champions with the team from St Helen’s finishing runners up on tries scored ahead of St Aiden’s and West Park.

In the Mixed Town Finals, Clavering defeated Sacred Heart in their semi-final and Barnard Grove overcame Stranton in their semi-final to be crowned joint Town Champions.

This meant that Barnard Grove had qualified for the Tees Valley Finals for the third year in a row and Clavering had qualified for the Tees Valley Finals for a staggering fifth consecutive year.

The Tees Valley Finals took place at Southlands Leisure Centre in Middlesbrough and involved the top 12 teams from across the Tees Valley (two from each of the six districts). In the

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Girls-Only Competition, the St Helen’s girls (coached by Sports Leader Aimee Stabler) finished eighth and the Clavering girls finished fifth (and only lost one match).

In the Mixed Competition, the Barnard Grove team (coached by PE teacher Craig Weatherill) finished sixth and the Clavering team finished third.

Clavering Deputy Headteacher, Neil McAvoy, who has worked with both Clavering teams this season, said: "The standard of competition at both Tees Valley Finals was exceptionally high.

"It was fantastic that four teams from our cluster managed to reach this level of the competition and represent our town so well. Not only did they play fantastic rugby, but – far more importantly – all of the children from the three schools were excellent ambassadors for Hartlepool and brilliantly demonstrated the RFU’s five core values: teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"The camaraderie between the Hartlepool boys and girls was excellent and hopefully they will all continue to enjoy healthy, active lifestyles and further develop their rugby skills at secondary school and/or at some of our brilliant local clubs that have given us great support across social media during this year’s tag rugby season."