Falcons host colleges and schools festival
Friday 7th November saw teams and players from 14 different schools and colleges across the North East, Cumbria and Teesside descend on Newcastle Falcons’ Kingston Park Stadium and the nearby Bullocksteads ground for the RFU Development Team’s Under 18 College and Schools Tens Festival.
The event was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone involved with the teams were able to take advantage of playing on Kingston Park’s new 3G pitch.
The RFU were initially hoping for eight teams to take part in the festival, but to everyone’s delight this number almost doubled, taking the overall number to 15. With each team bringing 15 players and an unlimited number of substitutions, the festival resulted in a turn out of over 200 players, some of whom had travelled long distances to attend.
The festival welcomed players of all abilities; there was a strong mix of some well-established school and college teams alongside some players only just getting back into playing rugby, assisted by some of the RFU Targeted Work programmes.
The event included officials from across Durham and Northumberland, all of whom clearly enjoyed the games as much as the players.
Overall the festival was a huge success, with the Tens format allowing for fast-paced, attacking rugby and many tries scored by all teams.
It was clear to everyone there how passionate and committed the players were to the sport, something which is really important for the development of rugby in the community. A big thank you everyone who took part.
