NO ONE could burst St Oswald's South Sea bubble in the first-ever North Yorkshire Schools Tag Rugby Tournament at Huntington.

Each school was given the name of a country to correspond with last year's Rugby League and Emerging Nations World Cups.

York school St Oswald's, representing Fiji, beat Westfield (Australia) 16-12 in the final.

Their winning team, accompanied by headmaster Paul Marks, was Finn McCusker, Jack McLachlan, David Warner, Harry Atkinson, Aidan Richardson, Sophie Hope, Jessica Bristow, Georgina Rollinson, Amy Wallace and Emma Lazenby.

It was the climax to a six-week competition involving 816 children from 20 schools.

Teams comprised five boys and five girls and played in four preliminary groups before the finals.

All the youngsters received coaching as part of the competition project which was funded by a national Lottery grant. Each school which took part received five rugby balls and a set of tag belts.

The event was organised by York Rugby League Development Group's Tony Gargan and Mike Kilmartin.

Also playing their part in a hugely successful day were four students from York University. Recent York Wasps recruit Callum Irving, Dan Hewitt, John Gonzalez and Chris Stewart were praised by the event's organisers for looking after the teams and refereeing matches.

Trophies were presented by Evening Press rugby league writer Dianne Hillaby.

- York Schools Under 11s next training session will be at Knavesmire on Monday, April 9 at 3pm. Players are asked to meet by the side of the grandstand.

Matches against Bradford (April 10) and Widnes (April 19) have been arranged. The York squad is also to take part in the England Schools' Rally on April 17 and have been invited to a festival at Gateshead on May 5 and another at Scarborough.

SPORTS FESTIVAL

JOSEPH Rowntree School collected their ninth netball trophy of the season when they beat All Saints in the final of Sherburn High School's annual festival.

The Under 13 team of Stephanie Lauff, Melanie Ward, Kathryn Ward, Katie Aldous, Helen Jamieson, Jenna Garnett, Edith Bourne, Carla Marples, Laura Aitken and Kim Copestake edged out their York rivals 4-3.

Joseph Rowntree beat Barlby 14-1, Fulford 19-1 and Millthorpe 14-0 before defeating Fulford again 15-1 in the semi-final.

Fulford beat Tadcaster in the hockey final and defeat Joseph Rowntree in the football final on the golden goal rule. Hosts Sherburn came from behind to beat Tadcaster in the rugby final.

Updated: 13:26 Wednesday, April 04, 2001