St.Mary's came close to providing a great upset at the Arnold 7s competition at Under 15 level when they lost to Kirkham GS in the final of this prestigious competition.

St. Mary's started the tournament slowly, losing out to a well drilled Arnold team 15-12 in the first group fixture. This meant that we had to win all of our remaining fixtures to qualify for the main cup competition.

The response was excellent by all of the players and Stonyhurst were comprehensively beaten 33-0 in the next group match as St. Mary's began to play some good rugby. The next fixture was make or break for St. Mary's as Kirkham, traditionally one of the strongest schools in the country for rugby were the opposition. St. Mary's started well and were soon 14-0 up, winning the contact area and playing for field position almost like a 15 a side match. In the second half, Kirkham predictably came back strong and scored with three minutes to go. However, the missed conversion meant they still had to score twice so the match was effectively over.

In the next group match, St. Mary's had to win by more than 27 points against Bury GS to go through as group winners and avoid playing the winners of the other group. They did this easily, winning 42-0.

This meant a semi-final against KEQMS Lytham, where St. Mary's once again won 17-7 in a match that was closer than the scoreline suggests. Kirkham had comprehensively beaten Merchants in the other semi-final 29-5, so a repeat of the group match saw St. Mary's once again play Kirkham GS. Kirkham scored first but Michael Bennett drew St. Mary's level so the score was 5-5 at half-time. Kirkham ten scored two converted tried early in the second half. A late consolation by Sean Marren meant that St. Mary's lost 19-10, a result made all the more frustrating by the fact that we had beaten them in the group stages and had also beaten them at 15 a side this year.

However, the lads were brilliant and were excellently captained by Gavin Griffiths.  Kieran McCormack, Alex Fairhurst, George Lightfoot and Tom Owens were all playing in their first 7s tournament and all played very well.  Gavin Griffiths, Michael Bennett and Sean Marren provided the pace out wide with Jonny Bonner, James Taylor and Anthony Bennett providing the steel in the middle. Had it not been for an unfortunate injury to Anthony Bennett in the group stages, things could have been so different.

From left, Alex Fairhurst, Michael Bennett, George Lightfoot, Sean Marren, Anthony Bennett, Gavin Griffiths, Kieran McCormack, Jonathan Bonner, James Taylor and Tom Owens.

Group A results

Versus Arnold (lost) 12-15                  Versus Stonyhurst (won) 33-0

Tries: Griffiths 2                                 Tries: Marren, Griffiths, Lightfoot, Bonner, M.Bennett

Conv: Griffiths                                   Conv: Griffiths 4

Versus Kirkham GS (won) 14-5            Versus Bury GS (won) 42-0

Tries: Lightfoot, Griffiths             Tries:Griffiths, Marren, M.Bennett, Bonner, Lightfoot, Taylor

Conv: Griffiths 2                                 Conv: Griffiths 5, Taylor                                      

Semi-final                                                               Final

Versus KEQMS Lytham (won) 17-7                     Versus Kirkham GS (lost) 10-19

Tries: Griffiths 2, Lightfoot                                 Tries: M.Bennett, Marren

Conv. Griffiths