YOUTH RUGBY: A TENSE all-Chippenham final rounded off a successful Wiltshire Emerging Schools U13s rugby tournament.

Ten teams of youngsters from across the county descended on Chippenham Rugby Club's Allington Field ground for the annual competition on Wednesday afternoon.

Secondary schools including Devizes School, John Bentley School in Calne, Ridgeway School in Wroughton and Matravers School in Westbury all entered teams in the competition.

But it was the home town Chippenham teams Sheldon and Hardenhuish that met in the final after topping their respective pools.

In the derby showdown Sheldon triumphed 10-0 and now go on to face the winners of the Dorset Emerging Schools U13s tournament. The date has yet to be arranged.

The winner of that clash will then travel to the county finals in Staines and compete for a place in the overall final that will be played on the hallowed Twickenham turf.

Wiltshire rugby development officer Lynn Evans organised the tournament with the help of Chippenham RFC. North Wiltshire rugby development officer Stephen Silk also helped with the tournament administration on the day.

Evans said: "The competition has been going for a number of years now and the main idea is to get schools playing more rugby.

"There are a lot of schools that don't play a lot of rugby so we are trying to get them out on the pitch more regularly and we hope England's World Cup success will help with that."

Evans said he had been impressed with the quality of rugby played on the day saying the many parents and supporters who turned out had been treated to an entertaining afternoon.

"There were some quite good young players on show," he said. "These lads don't play rugby that often so it was good for them to have the chance to play.

"All the schools involved were not established rugby-playing schools and the whole idea is to get rugby back in schools again.

"There has been a bit of a decline in the last the years for different reasons. But the World Cup has given the sport a shot in the arm and now a lot more schools are playing again."

Local referees officiated the matches and it was the second year that Chippenham RFC had hosted the competition.

Evans added: "There was a very pleasant atmosphere and quite a few parents came along to watch.

"We ran the competition from the clubhouse, the pitches were in good nick and the weather held out. It was a very successful day."

Evans praised the performances of the two Chippenham schools that made it to the final and said he hoped next year's under-13s competition would be bigger and better still.

"It was a good final," he said. "Sheldon came out on top and I think the difference was that they had a nippy scrum-half and some strong forwards.

"But Hardenhuish played some very good rugby as well during the tournament and the final was tight with Sheldon's second try not coming until the final minute. John Bentley School from Calne also did well because they only recently started playing rugby. The only hiccup was that Corsham School misread the forms and brought their under-12s along."

He added: "The eventual aim is to get these boys playing boys playing club rugby. It was a very positive day and it can only a good thing that we got ten schools involved. Next year we want to double that number."