RUGBY league fever was spread to five more primary schools this week at the latest York City Knights tag festival.

Heworth were on top of the world after winning the newcomers tournament by the narrowest of margins - and hopes are high that all five schools will continue the tag rugby league trend following this introduction.

Eight-a-side teams from St Lawrence's, St Paul's, Hob Moor, Heworth and two Badger Hill squads battled it out in a festival at Heworth ARLFC following a series of coaching sessions.

Knights' Community Development Officer Jason Ramshaw said: "The focus on the festival was to introduce rugby to schools that have had no rugby league experience and to prepare them for the main festivals in April-May time.

"Last year we had 38 schools take part and we are hoping to get up to 50 for 2005 which is a realistic target.

"This festival was really closely fought and was played to a high standard in an excellent spirit and the competition went right down to the final round."

St Lawrence's needed a win in their last match against Badger Hill 'B' to top the table but Badger Hill held them to a 0-0 draw.

The result meant that Heworth finished on top courtesy of a better points difference, with St Lawrence's second and Hob Moor close behind on third.

Mascot Norris the Knight and player-of-the-year Scott Rhodes were on hand to dish out tag rugby belts and balls to the participating schools funded by two Sportsmatch initiatives with Guildford Construction and Phoenix Software.

Tony Gargan, Ian Watkinson, Knights North Yorkshire development officer Ian Wilson and last season's top try-scorer Chris Langley put the youngsters through their paces in four coaching sessions prior to the event.

It is hoped all five schools will now keep up the coaching with their new equipment in preparation for the next festival in the spring - and beyond.

Everyone who took part went home with a certificate, and Ramshaw will be going to Heworth in the near future to present the winners with theirs during assembly.

He added: "The feedback from the schools was that the youngsters really enjoyed themselves. Especially as small schools like Heworth have never competed before in any festivals, so it was great for them to have a go and win."

York City Knights Tag Rugby League

Badger Hill 'A' 12, Badger Hill 'B' 0; St Lawrence's 4, St Paul's 4; Hob Moor 0, St Lawrence's 0; Heworth 0, St Lawrence's' 8; St Paul's 4, Badger Hill 'B' 0; Hob Moor 0, Badger Hill 'B' 0; St Lawrence's 0, Badger Hill 'B' 0; St Paul's 0, Hob Moor 0; Heworth 4, Hob Moor 4; Badger Hill 'B' 4, Heworth 16; St Paul's 0, Badger Hill 'A' 4; Badger Hill 'A' 4, Hob Moor 8; St Lawrence's 4, Badger Hill 'A' 0; Heworth 8, St Paul's 0; Badger Hill 'A' 4, Heworth 12.

P W D L F A Pts

Heworth 5 3 1 1 40 20 7

St Lawrence's 5 2 0 3 16 4 7

Hob Moor 5 1 0 4 12 8 6

Badger Hill 'A' 5 2 3 0 24 24 4

St Paul's 5 1 2 2 8 16 4

Badger Hill 'B' 5 0 3 2 4 32 2

Updated: 11:07 Wednesday, November 10, 2004