Under 12 Tait 10s Shield Winners

Last Sunday, the under 12 rugby team travelled to Barnard Castle School to compete in the Tait 10s tournament. With 16 of the top schools from the North, NSB were grouped with Rodillian School (Leeds), Carmel School (Darlington) and Barnard Castle School.

In the first game NSB started well with some strong rucking and defensive work. Rodillian had an outstanding winger who pounced for 2 excellent tries meaning a 12-0 defeat. In the second game NSB played superbly, some charging runs from Max B and George P got the team on the front foot. Again, the rucking was excellent and halfbacks Patrick H and William J were able to set up three excellent tries, coming from James A and both Will and Henry J for a 17-0 win. The final group game was extremely tough and the defensive work of NSB was tested thoroughly. Despite some outstanding tackling, Barnard Castle prevailed. Finishing 3rd in the group meant that NSB would contest the shield in the afternoon with Durham School, Austin Friars School (Carlisle) and Yarm School.

In the first game against Durham, NSB showed great resilience, twice falling behind and twice drawing level to draw 14-14, tries coming from Jagveer H and Will J. The second game was the performance of the day with the entire squad contributing. Ed F and Marcus H worked in tandem to tire out the Austin Friars forwards whilst the backs looked very dangerous. New boys Abdul A and Ahnaf Z really impressed in their first tournament. Harry D was in superb form and he dummied his way over for two excellent tries whilst the others were scored by Jagveer H and James A (2). Final score 35-0. This meant the last game was essentially a final with the winners taking the shield trophy. Against a very physical Yarm team NSB defended for almost the whole of the first half, Patrick H and Henry J to the fore with their excellent tackling and stealing skills. Max B and George P were also showing excellent work in the mauls. In the second half NSB were on the front foot and in a tense last 2 minutes Harry D and Max B scored 2 excellent tries for a 14-0 win and their first trophy as senior school rugby players.

Well done to the whole squad.