Mount Carmel were invited to take part in the East Lancs U14 girls' rugby festival at Preston Grasshoppers, and while we don't have a rugby team our flag football team were keen to take part in order to get some experience playing as a team and use some of the similar skills in a game situation. 

Governor and rugby coach Dave Batt came into school to do an hour's introduction to the basics of the sport and we recruited some new players as a couple of the girls were getting over injuries and weren't sure if they would be able to play.

The team went in with low expectations due to the lack of experience, just hoping to be competitive and give a good impression of themselves, but they took to rugby very quickly and immediately impressed - coaches from Sale Sharks were refereeing the group games and couldn't believe they had never played before!

We were drawn in a tough group with Outwood Academy, Carnforth and St. Bede's, and despite a very close-run game against top seeded Outwood, and a fiery must-win final group game that saw three key players forced off injured including team captain Faye, the girls won all three, qualifying for the final against Ormskirk. After a back and forth start, back-to-back tries from the team's top scorers Lily and Lexie helped them to pull away before one final try from Lily closed the game out to see the girls coming home undefeated. 

The players:
Y9
Faye A (captain)
Alex B
Pia-Rita C
Lily D
Grace D
Phoebe G
Mia P
Lexie W
Y8
Gabriella B
Zaina F
Ruby M
Abbie N
Y7
Maisie B