The Big One ’19: Land Rover Cup set for record entry
The season 2018/19 edition of the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup in the North East is set to welcome its biggest ever entry this March, with over 100 teams already entered across the two age groups.
Entries to date have all come from members of the Club Connections programme, who enjoy priority booking into the festival until this Friday (January 18) before any remaining places are available to be booked by any club with an Under 11 or Under 12s section.
With this year’s event taking place ahead of the Falcons’ game against Sale, interest is already high from teams outside of the region with the capacity of 120 teams (60 per age group) expected to be reached before the end of the month.
Clubs wishing to enter a team into this season’s jamboree should contact the Falcons Community Foundation’s Gavin Beasley by emailing gavin.beasley@newcastle-falcons.co.uk without delay, to ensure they are part of this year’s big day for North East rugby.
Part of a series of grassroots festivals for U11 and U12 rugby teams ran in conjunction with all twelve Premiership Rugby clubs, the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup enters its 11th season in 18/19 and is now an established and essential part of the UK rugby calendar.
To date, nearly 70,000 youngsters across the UK have participated in the tournament since its inception, including Falcons first team player Callum Chick during his days as a young player at Ponteland RFC.
For the second year running the Gallagher Premiership fixture following the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup will be The Big One at St James’ Park, and each team can claim complimentary match day tickets for their squad, plus two accompanying coaches to the fixture at St James Park.
The event will be held at Kingston Park Stadium on the morning before the round 17 meeting of the league’s two most northerly teams, with youngster playing on pitches across the stadium complex, including the main 3G surface on which some of the best players in world rugby play on.
Entry into the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup is once again FREE, with a team from each age group in with a chance of winning a trip to Twickenham for the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final on 1 June 2019.
The lucky teams will all get to meet a host of Land Rover rugby ambassadors and take part in a Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup Testimonial Parade, at half time in front of a sell-out crowd at Twickenham.
Back in season 16/17, graduate Chick headed back to Ponteland RFC ahead of that year’s event with Falcons TV to see their preparations. [Click here][1] to see that video and hear his thoughts at the time on the value of the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bswQnOD39kU&t=4s
