RUGBY UNION - RAMSAY CUP

The Ramsay Cup Rugby Union Tournament kicked off again last month for its 2nd year of Competition.

The Tournament is open to Year 10 & 11 students and was again contested by Kooringal & Wagga High Schools, Mater Dei, TRAC, The Wagga Christian College and Kildare.

Due to COVID Restrictions the Thursday afternoon/ night Tournament was unfortunately not open to spectators but KCC students enjoyed the competition after completing  only a couple of training runs and a very quick introduction to the game of Rugby Union and the Laws.

Kildare started their campaign on a positive note with a 30-15  win over last year's Tournament winners Mater Dei and then followed that up with impressive wins over Wagga High (65-5) and Wagga Christian College (94-5).

In Round 4, however, the boys came up against a better TRAC side on the day and went down 7-20 after trailing 7-10 at half time.

The weekly team squad was made up of  around 21 regular players and the boys deserve plenty of credit for their enthusiasm and commitment.

At our first training run the players were asked to write down whether they considered themselves a forward or a back. The final count was in favour of the back's preference by 16 to 5 which resulted in plenty of chopping and changing for several players into the forwards, and that adaptability and unselfishness was no doubt  the highlight of the team's culture.

We played Kooringal High  in the final round of the competition  and by winning that encounter 33-12 we qualified for the final against TRAC.

Despite collectively playing our best match of the season we went down (13-15) to the undefeated TRAC side in the final play of the match when the referee penalised us for off side play.We had trailed 3-12 at half time but managed to overcome that deficit and hit the front 13-12 with 6 minutes remaining in the final.

My thanks is not only extended to the playing squad but also to Ms. Cherrie Kendall, Mr. Dan Robinson and Mr. Peter Hunt for their support and management of the team throughout the competition.

Michael McTaggart | Coach