Franklin’s Gardens has been a packed place over the past few days with one schools rugby tournament after another making the most of the sunny weather!
Monday, February 29th saw teams from as far afield as Corby, Wellingborough and Northampton head to the Gardens for an Aviva Tackling Numbers tag rugby tournament.
Huge thanks to @SaintsComm team for today's #tacklingnumbers celebration event Lots of happy (& tired) kids from @OLWSchool & @LittleStanion
— @COTSSPdevelopment (@COTSSPdevelopme) February 29, 2016
But this is just one of four age group competitions that have kept the Saints’ community team busy!
Saturday’s Aviva Premiership clash with Worcester was preceded by an Under-10s tournament. Twenty-two teams and hundreds of youngsters battled it out for the right to receive their trophies and medals on the main pitch during the half-time break of the Saints’ game, when students from Stimpson Primary also got to show off their tag rugby skills.
Pics from the @SaintsRugby Under 10s https://t.co/SVAYO01Ii9 - top work by the @SaintsComm team :-)
— Claire Jones (@redhatphoto) February 28, 2016
On Thursday Franklin’s Gardens hosted Northamptonshire Sport’s Sainsbury School Games rugby festival, with 10 primary schools representing the various regions across the county. And on Wednesday teams came from even further afield, namely Yorkshire, Wales, South London and Surrey, to compete in a competition for schools that are part of the Cognita group.
This week sees the start of the Elite Insurance Sevens Series, the Saints’ unique tournament in which schools from across the East of England will go head-to-head in a series of regional competitions for the right to represent their county at Finals Day later in the spring.
Head of community Sian Haynes is proud of the work being put in by the community coaches this spring.
“It’s been a very busy time for us, delivering our programmes around the county and hosting a number of age group tournaments for schools and clubs,” she said. “I couldn’t be prouder of how the community coaches are working. They want rugby to be fun for everyone taking part, and it’s been fantastic to see the smiles on players’ faces when they’re in games or on the sidelines.
“The Elite Insurance Sevens Series takes this to another level, and there will be plenty more action across the East of England in the two different boys’ age groups and the new girls’ tournament, too.”
To find out more about the Saints’ wide range of community programmes visit www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/community.
Updates from the Elite Insurance Sevens Series can be seen on www.elite-rugby.co.uk/sevens-series. And pictures from all the age groups can be seen at www.facebook.com/officialnorthamptonsaints.