Castleford Academy earn double trophy success on Champions Schools finals day

The inspiresport Champion Schools Finals took place at Kingston Park, home of Newcastle Thunder, with the Castleford school having teams in three of the six finals, which were for boys and girls teams from Years 7 to 10.

Two of those Castleford sides emerged victorious with the other agonisingly edged out in one of the best games of the day.

The youngsters were following in the footsteps of previously successful teams from the Academy, including three winning line-ups from 2022.

The production line is not showing signs of running out yet and the Year 8 Boys gave Castleford another Champion Schools trophy with a superb display in their final against Warrington’s Bridgewater High School, winning 34-0.

The Year 8s won at Year 7 in 2022 and the way they started this game left Bridgewater in no doubt of their determination to triumph again.

Classy Cas were out of the starting blocks in a flash, their forwards laying the platform for skilful half-back Fletcher Sheldrake to create a first minute try for centre Gabe Famurewa.

Bridgewater, who made it all the way to the Year 7 final last season, were rattled and failed to find any kind of foothold in the game as forwards Tom Lloyd and Ellis Johnson added further first half tries for Cas Academy.

A 16-0 half-time lead was soon extended by prop Craig Tshuma, whose rampaging run through the heart of the Bridgewater defence and swerve around the full-back to score surely made him a contender for Our League Try of the Week.

With Castleford’s pack proving too hot to handle, full-back Drew Wilby was next to benefit as he strode through a back-peddling Bridgewater defence. Player-of-the-match Johnson added the extras to extend his side’s lead to 28-0, then converted his own try to make the final score a convincing 34-0.

The Year 9 Girls were next up with Castleford Academy triumphing again, 22-0 against Malet Lambert, of Hull.

Last year, a breathtaking hat-trick from Beau Owens helped Castleford Academy come from behind to claim the Year 8 title against Malet Lambert – but this time round, they were in control from the start.

Castleford began confidently and opened the scoring within three minutes after Beau Kenny initiated a quick passage of play which allowed Bethany Higgins to break and cross the whitewash.

The Academy side, coached by York Valkyrie’s Lacey Owen, quickly added to the scoreboard again through Evie Gee who touched down on the right-hand side of the posts to open up a 10-point lead.

The winger got her second try just moments later with Ruby Darley scoring just before half-time to make it 18-0 heading into the break.

Malet made a promising start to the second half with Paz Cooper playing a vital role in pushing her team forward, but Castleford’s defence stood strong to deny the Hull side any scoring opportunities.

In the final 10 minutes, player-of-the-match Higgins made a fantastic run down the left and completed a hat-trick to make the final score 22-0.

Castleford Academy could not quite make it a hat-trick of successes as they were edged out 14-12 by Wigan’s St Peter's Catholic High School in the Year 10 Boys final.

The day’s final fixture was dramatic from start to finish with the final five minutes one for the history books.

After a lively opening quarter, Jacob Longden made a run down the wing with Rhys Firth eventually breaking the deadlock and Jacob Hardy completing his conversion to make it 6-0 to Castleford.

St Peter’s replied through Ethan Smith who slipped through the defence to earn himself four points with the successful conversion from Zak Bielecki levelling the game.

St Peter’s got the second half off to a flying start and scored their second try, but moments later it was Castleford’s turn to respond – Longden delivered a sublime pass to Hardy just past the half-way line with the stand off then racing to cross the whitewash. His conversion gave his team a 12-10 lead.

The final 10 minutes were tense. A run from Shea O’Connor and Smith looked like it could put St Peter’s back in the lead, but a brilliant hit from Taylor Sharpe ended with a knock-on and a penalty to Castleford.

With just two minutes left on the clock, Castleford looked as if they had won it when Longden caught a loose ball and made it to the try line, only for his effort to be deemed offside.

St Peter’s dug in deep and drove themselves forward from the penalty, creating an overlap that left Lincoin Gladwin free to score the winning try to end the score at 14-12 with the crowd going wild.

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