The Tag Rugby Team competed in a Tournament held at the Old Coventrians on Wednesday 24th June. Taking on another 19 schools, this was the first time All Souls had entered this tournament.
Prior to the tournament each school that entered was given a country to represent from the upcoming Rugby World Cup, we were given Samoa. The children really embraced this, so much so that, with a little help from Mr Cooke they created their very own Samoan Haka. You can watch them perform this at the start of their first game below.
The schools were split into four groups with only the winners of each group advancing to the semi-finals. They started off brilliantly winning their first 3 matches comfortably, their final league match against Allesley however was a far tougher tie. They had also won their opening 3 games meaning the winner of this match would go through to the knock out stage. We started off slowly making too many mistakes and went into half time 2-1 down. After a positive team talk from coach Chris (Ciaran’s Dad) the team came out in the 2nd half a different team and managed to take the lead early in the half. Allesley kept on coming at us throughout the remainder of the game but our defense remained strong, eventually winning the game 5-3.
Into the semi-finals and Willenhall were waiting. This was a great, close game from start to finish with both teams scoring every time they had possession of the ball. At half time the teams went in all square at 3 tries each. In the 2nd half the defense really put on the pressure forcing the Willenhall team to make a few mistakes creating two turnovers from which we managed to attack and score, finally winning the game by 2 tries.
The final, against King Henry VIII School, started with the children performing their Samoan Haka again this really fired them up ready to start. The game turned out to be the closest match of the day with King Henry VIII scoring every time they had possession of the ball, our children though were equally as good and also scored on all but one of their possessions. This meant that at half time we went in 4-3 down, however we would be starting with the ball in the 2nd half. Staright from the start the team scored to make the match level, they then never let King Henry’s settle and pressed the ball quickly creating 3 turnovers in succession, scoring a try each time. King Henry VIII then scored a try in the last minute to make the final score 7-5 to All Souls. Superb Performance and a deserved victory – well done team!
A big thank you must go to Chris for coaching the children, he gave up his own time on Monday afternoons to train the children and without his input on the day, along with the coaching, the team would of struggled to play the way they did.
Performing the Samoan Haka as Winners
