THE year eight rugby team from Allertonshire School, Northallerton were delighted to win a ten-a-side tournament held by the Yorkshire RFU last month.

Four local schools entered the competition for emerging rugby-playing schools, which took place at Northallerton Rugby Club.

Allertonshire's first game was against favourites Thirsk and was a very tense affair, ending in a 5-5 draw.

Neither side gave anything away, but Thirsk eventually pushed over for a try despite excellent Allertonshire tackling. The Northallerton side replied within a minute with a try of their own following a weaving run from Jake Aspin.

Allertonshire next faced Stokesley, who had won their first game. Good handling and effective support play saw Allertonshire open up holes in the Stokesley defence. They scored tries courtesy of Ben Hall, James Todd and James Collinge for a 15-0 victory.

Allertonshire's final game ended in a 30-0 win over Bedale School, who were no pushovers. But tries began to flow, mostly due to direct and aggressive running from James Collinge, James Wallace and Gary Blair.

Both Thirsk and Allertonshire had won two and drawn one, but the latter came out on top with a superior points difference of just five.

The success was achieved with a 100pc effort from all the Allertonshire players, who were Jake Aspin, James Collinge, Sebastian Rab, Ben Clifton, Chris Daniel, Craig Roberts, Elliot Crow, Simon Chapman, Peter Wyllie, Gary Blair, James Wallace, James Todd, Phil Swall and Ben Hall.