The year in Rugby at Northgate this year has been a pretty successful one in terms of games played, pupils playing, and number of games won.
The Year 7s took to rugby with enthusiasm, playing in the Emerging Schools competition early on, getting to grips with the rules and the physical nature of the game. After a couple of friendlies with Neatherd the boys played in the All Schools festival winning all but one of their games, with players such as Ed Bunting, Adam Jermey and Jack Gibbons standing out.Â
The Year 8s have been the most successful year group this year, winning 4 out of their 6 games at the Emerging Schools day at Wymondham College, and winning all but one of their games in the County Waterfall Competition. The year 8s also experienced a successful day with the All Schools festival. There are many standout players from this age group but there were notable contributions from Barnaby Smith, Frank Lapa, and Josh Watts who has also been included in the Leicester Tigers DPP programme for next season.
Year 7 Rugby Team
Year 8 Rugby Team
The Year 9s had a mixed bag of a year with lot of great performances but struggled to commit to training and retain players for fixtures.  Having said this they lost to Springwood in the semi-final of the county bowl competition after coming second in their pre-Christmas pool. The All Schools festival was another opportunity for Northgate players to flourish with standout performances from Harvey Flynn, Christian Da Cruz and the departing Waisake Laqere.Â
Northgate’s most talented year group, Year 10, didn’t quite reach their potential, losing to Flegg in the quarter-final in the county bowl. However, they did beat Diss and CNS, and only narrowly lost to a strong Langley B team. If they are committed to training next year, these boys have a very real chance of earning some silverware.
Year 9 Rugby Team
Year 10 Rugby Team
Year 11s had their most successful year, winning their first ever cup fixture before Christmas and only losing to Wymondham College in the final of the County Bowl 36-34 in a truly epic game. There was amazing enthusiasm and commitment from these players throughout the year considering the demands of year 11. There were great contributions from Tom Moss-Hobbs, Jorge Pascoal and the ever-dependable Cameron Mason.
Year 11 Rugby Team
The links with Swaffham RFC and Northgate have been further strengthened with the development of the All Schools arrangement with the RFU. This included access to the All Schools festivals, having Lee Parry from the Norfolk RFU coming into take Year 8 curriculum lessons, as well as encourage pupils from all year groups to join local rugby clubs, particularly Swaffham.Â
Any pupil wanting to try rugby can come onto the field on Monday lunchtimes to play touch rugby for the rest of this term. Regular rugby starts again in September at school, with Swaffham RFC also looking for any interested players to bolster their youth sides. Any interested players, please see Mr Llewellyn.
Northgate’s 2017/18 rugby season stats from 4 leagues and 6 festivals;
20 wins
14 losses
