Season of Glory
Stewart Cullen, rugby development officer, and his
assistant, James Murphy, would like to give special
thanks to Mr Brandham and Mr Crosby for
the support in coaching rugby at Pheasant Bank
school this year. Here is an article sent in by the
school themselves.
RUGBY training started in September on
Tuesday nights for the second consecutive year.
It was attended by 20 boys and girls in year 5 an
6 and delivered by teacher Matthew Brandham.
After some great coaching from the previous
year, head of PE Jonathan Crosby, arranged for
Rachel Campion to visit the school to deliver the
Tackle Health programme which worked with the
year 5 science topic … the number of children
who attended the club increased as a result of
this.
Come rain or shine ,children trained hard and
contributed in all areas.
In January Stuart Cullen came to school to
help coach in PE lessons and with the afterschool
club. The club expanded to 30 children,
including 12 girls, all attending regularly. In March
Pheasant Bank Junior School entered the “NO
Messin” Tournament at Castle Park and were
crowned champions, going through the whole
event unbeaten.
They played nine games, winning seven and
drawing two and scoring a fantastic 39 tries. The
children even got chance to parade round the
pitch and play on it during a Doncaster Knights
matchday.
Winning this competition qualified the team for
the Doncaster Tag Rugby Finals. The team successfully
won their group qualifying for the knockout
stages. They came runners-up to this tournament
to eventual national finalists Green Top from
Thorne.
The training continued and the numbers of the
after-school club grew to 36. Doncaster Knights
further strengthened their relationship with the
school, helping to raise the awareness of boys’
reading by opening the school library after funding
was secured for new refurbishment from
Ernie Beresford (external funding co-ordinator)
and a non-uniform day.
Players and community coaches came down to
demonstrate their rugby and reading skills. They
discussed with the children about how they enjoy
to read when they get the time off training and
played with the rugby club at lunchtime. The players
really enjoyed reading with the children in the
afternoon and staff valued the contribution sport
played in creating positive role models.
On the field, the side progressed to the South
Yorkshire Finals. Despite tasting defeat on their
first two run-outs, they stuck together, buckled
down and went on to win their next five games,
ensuring a high-place finish and qualification for
the Yorkshire Championship Finals.
The squad continued to train hard in preparation
for the Yorkshire Championships. They were
now one of the best 16 sides in the county. If
anything, Pheasant Bank Junior School peaked a
little too early in this competition, blowing away
their opponents in their first round of group
games and winning their group with ease.
The long lunch break seemed to drain the
energy from the team and, despite some hardworking
performances and a great effort, they
lost their last game to Cudworth School, meaning
they fell one game short of making the National Finals. It was a big disappointment for all, but glory was soon to follow. Pheasant Bank Junior School went to the Doncaster Schools Finals and played some entertaining rugby. They took three sides (36
children) to Castle Park - a year 6 team to celebrate their last time representing Pheasant Bank Junior School, a year 5 team and an emerging side of untried players.
The year 6 team left with the
Doncaster Premiership Trophy, winning seven
games and tasting defeat only once.
To celebrate this glorious season and success
of all the children involved, the school held their
first ever rugby dinner - the first ever of its kind in
primary education.
Parents of children were invited, as were the
communituy coaches of the Doncaster Knights,
and a great day was had by all. Trophies were
awarded to the Most Dedicated Player, the
Emerging Player, Most Improved Player, the
Player’s Player and the Player of the Year.