THE REDEEMER showed a touch of class to be crowned champions in a record-breaking Blackburn and Darwen Primary Schools Tag Rugby competition.

A total of 21 schools – the best ever turnout – took part in the day-long tournament held at Blackburn Rugby Club to see who would represent the borough in the Lancashire School Games.

And it was Redeemer who emerged triumphant after the beat Lower Darwen in the final on a day where rugby was also the winner.

“Rugby isn’t traditionally one of the more popular sports within Blackburn and Darwen but it was encouraging to see so many teachers and children embracing what proved to be a successful competition,” said Andrew Mercer School Games Organiser.

“It was great to see this competition growing every year and around 220 children playing and enjoying tag rugby,”

St Gabriel’s won all four of their Group One games to finish top and progress to a semi-final against Lower Darwen who won Group Two thanks to three wins and a draw. St Cuthbert’s dominated Group Three, winning all of their four matches, and went on to met The Redeemer in their semi final after they also won all of their round robin matches to top Group Four.

In the first semi final, Lower Darwen scored a try in the dying seconds to defeated talented St Gabriel’s side by 8-7. The second semi final was even tighter, going into extra time after it finished 6-6 between St Cuthbert’s and The Redeemer. The Redeemer just edged it in the end by a score of 8 tries to 7.

In the third and fourth play-off, St Cuthbert’s beat St Gabriel’s 8-6.

So after starting with 21 teams we were down to the final two and as expected the final was of a very impressive standard. And after 10 minutes of free flowing, end-to-end rugby ended with The Redeemer coming out on top by a score of 6 tries to 4.

The Redeemer will go forward to the county final in June as part of the Lancashire School Games.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to Blackburn Rugby Club for allowing us to use their wonderful facilities and for providing referees. I wish The Redeemer all the best of luck when they represent the Borough in the Lancashire School games on the 30th June in Blackpool.

n Blackburn Rugby Club run sessions for Under 12s on Wednesday evenings between 6.30 and 7.30pm anyone who enjoyed the competition or would like to give rugby a try are encouraged to go down.