Over 100 school children beat the rain and battled it out for the chance to play at the home of the Dragons when they took part in the Melin Homes Dragons Challenge Shield today (Friday).
Ten teams from schools across the region – who have spent the last five months in the Gateway Rugby programme - played in the seven-a-side TAG festival at Newport International Sports Village.
Ysgol Gymraeg y Ffin, Gaer Primary School, Malpas Court Primary School, Abercarn Primary School, Malpas Church Primary School battled it out in Group A while Castle Park Primary School, Thornwell Primary School, St Julian’s School, Alway Primary School and Maindee Primary School played in Group B.
Each team of ten was made up of seven boys and three girls – with at least one girl on the field at all times.
Despite the wet weather at Spytty Park, the youngsters - from Years 5/6 - served up some great rugby on the 3G pitch with Maindee Primary School and Ysgol Gymraeg y Ffin winning their pools to set up a repeat of last year’s final.
The two schools will now play at half-time at the upcoming Guinness PRO14 fixture with Ulster at Rodney Parade in March.
Prop Leon Brown and wing Ashton Hewitt were special guests at the event to cheer on the young rugby players and award medals at the end of the competition.
The Dragons Community team will now host a Challenge Cup tournament next week as more schools compete to play at Rodney Parade.
Our thanks go to Melin Homes for their fantastic support of the competition and also USW who provide students to support events.
