More children from the York area were exposed to the rugby league bug at the latest York City Knights Sportsmatch primary school competition last Thursday.

Seven teams from five schools went head-to-head at Huntington School in their first taste of competitive rugby following weeks of coaching by the Knights' community team including Jason Ramshaw, North Yorkshire development officer Ian Wilson, Tony Gargan and Knights star Peter Fox.

Big-scoring Riccall came out on top of the round robin event after totting up 44 points in six games in their five wins, with only fourth-placed Escrick managing to overturn them, 8-4.

Naburn 'A' finished one point behind - and level on points with Derwent in third - with their best win being a 16-0 defeat of Sutton on the Forest 'B'.

Every player who took part received a certificate, while the winners enjoyed Knights goody bags presented by star players Fox, Lee Paterson and Dan Potter.

An added bonus for each school was a bag of balls and tag equipment sponsored by Kevin Dalby of MSF Peugeot, who raised £250 by running the London Marathon.

The number of schools to have benefited from the Knights-led tag coaching scheme is now up to 60, with youngsters from Selby and Scarborough next in line thanks to Phoenix Software and Sportsmatch funding which secured the role of development officer Wilson throughout North Yorkshire.

These competitions all lead to the York City Knights festival which will see 50 schools, up from 38 last year, battling it out over five days in April.

Results

Naburn 'A' 8, Sutton on the Forest 'A' 0; Sutton on the Forest 'B' 8, Escrick 12; Derwent 0, Riccall 4; Naburn 'A' 16, Sutton on the Forest 'B' 0; Sutton on the Forest 'A' 4, Escrick 8; Riccall 8, Naburn 'B' 4; Naburn 'A' 4, Derwent 4; Sutton on the Forest 'A' 12, Sutton 'B' 4; Escrick 0, Naburn 'B' 0; Naburn 'A' 0, Riccall 4; Sutton on the Forest 'A' 4, Derwent 8; Sutton on the Forest 'B' 0, Naburn 'B' 4; Sutton on the Forest 'A' 4, Naburn 'B' 4; Sutton on the Forest 'B' 0, Derwent 8; Escrick 8, Riccall 4; Naburn 'A' 4, Escrick 0; Sutton on the Forest 'B' 0, Riccall 12; Derwent 4, Naburn 'B' 0; Naburn 'A' 4, Naburn 'B' 0; Sutton on the Forest 'A' 4, Riccall 12; Escrick 0, Derwent 4.

Updated: 10:49 Wednesday, February 02, 2005