Another rugby festival done and dusted for the year but not before Sherwood makes their mark!

With the final round of the 2019 Primary Schools Rugby Festival coming to a close, this signals the rugby season going into hibernation until next winter. It has been a road built on ups and downs, wins and losses, tears and laughter. If one thing can be said, it has been a truly positive experience.  For our Year 6's this was their last Primary Schools Festival that they will represent Sherwood in. For our future Year 3 to 5 students, we look forward to you signing up next year and doing it all again!

With a Rugby World Cup theme, each school was randomly assigned a participating country to represent. Sherwood were assigned USA which conveniently matched their red, white, and blue team shirts. Coupled with face paint, our teams were ready for a day of rugby.

The tackle team demonstrated sheer determination and perhaps their greatest performance of the three festivals. After two tough games against Campbells Bay and Browns Bay they headed into their final game against Murrays Bay with a whole new level of heart. The team held out Murrays Bay 2-2 with brilliant tries, one from Erhard straight from the kick-off and the other from Riley pushing his way through the defensive line to crash over the try line. Unfortunately, Murrays Bay's quick passing to the wings secured them enough points to take the final game. Each game was a battle but the team never showed any signs of giving up and played with everything they had and more. Well done team!

Our Rippa teams had another successful event. Each team experienced the highs and lows that come with winning and losing games. From these experiences, they reflected on their previous games and built on what they have learned. Facing quick opponents, the Year 3&4 teams utilized quick offloads and supporting runners to get them over the line. Coupled with awesome team play, a number of Year 3&4's demonstrated evasive running skills weaving side to side to get past the defensive line. There were even reports of the odd goose step being used in games to great effect.  

The Year 5&6 mixed team faced off against some of their hardest opponents of the festival. Although they were unlucky in two of their games, the one they did win was a spectacle to behold. A quick glance at a typical game of Rippa rugby could look like this: player runs ball up to defensive line, gets their tagged ripped then passes the ball to a teammate and then repeat 6 times until you score or the ball is handed over to the other team. However watching the Year 5&6 team play it looks more like this, strong fast run up the middle, zig-zag past three opposing players, draw in the last defenders, pass the ball out wide and score in the corner. The team worked well together and applied their tactical knowledge to get to the try line. 

Congratulations to all our 2019 rugby teams, you were fantastic ambassadors of Sherwood with your positive attitude and sportsmanship on and off the field. Good luck Year 6's for your future rugby events and Years 3, 4 and 5, we look forward to seeing you back next year.  

I would like to thank all of the parents that helped prepare our teams for the festivals by taking morning training sessions and looking after the teams at events. I would also like to thank Teresa Underwood and her group of 8 Long Bay College students that helped coach our teams at each festival and made sure they got to each of their games.