Year 9 Girls Carnegie Champions Schools National Cup Final 2008
Year 9 Girls
Castleford High School 12 North Halifax Grammar 16
North Halifax emerged winners of the Year Nine girls Final after a nerve-jangling finish to the second half when they had to resist a brave comeback by Castleford.
Midway through the second half North Halifax appeared to have the game in their pockets when they led 16-8 but, as they tired, Castleford drew on their last reserves to close the gap.
Two tries by centre Holly Kelleher gave Castleford hope but in the final analysis Devon Clegg’s second try of the game scored in the opening moments proved to be decisive and they simply ran out of time.
These two well matched teams virtually cancelled each other out in the first 15 minutes of the Final but by but by the end of the first half it was the Halifax girls who were in the ascendancy.
Castleford had scored first through their captain and centre Ellie Young who had dived over from close range. But the longer the half went on the more time the Castleford girls had to spend defending as North Halifax’s greater size began to make an impact.
Halifax then discovered their cutting edge to produce three unanswered tries through Alice Young, Devon Clegg and Ashley Prescott. All of them had come from plays close to Castleford’s try line.
Castleford High School: Megan Knell, Rebecca Lewis, Abbie Norton, Holly Kellener, Sache Eyre, Jessica Sommerville, Brogan Powell, Paige Lewis, Jamie Guy, Gemma Whittaker, Beth Gommersal, Ellie Young. Head Coach: Keith Bullimore.
North Halifax Grammar: Rebecca Foster, Alice Hardy, Ashlea Prescott, Carolyn Ellis, Harriet Wood, Abigail Hewitt, Alice Young, Devon Clegg, Danica Thoseby; Natasha Loft. Head Coach: Jon Nicholls.