Last year, this age group's match was abandoned after 40 minutes against Ormskirk School when the score was 53-0 to Ormskirk School as it was too one-sided. This year, with Ormskirk School no longer playing rugby, St. Mary's took on the even stronger Ormskirk Club team and many feared that it would once again be a very one-sided affair. All, except the boys.

St. Mary's matched the opposition in the scrums and outplayed Ormskirk for long periods of the game. Taking the lead early on in the first half after a succession of pick and drives, James Hale got over the line for his first ever school try, showing the progress he has made turning into a fine rugby player.

Skipper Clarke continued to make inroads into the Ormskirk defence and had a calming authority over his players throughout a very physical match. Ben Wallington once again showed his class both in the scrums and in the loose and Matthew Lea dominated the lineout again. David Vose and Patrick Nevin worked tirelessly winning ball for the backs to use and flankers Ryan Hodge and Andreas Christophorou were once again outstanding, especially in defence.

Chris Bartolo who also plays for Ormskirk got his back line going well and made many cover tackles. His box kicking also kept Ormskirk in their own half for long periods and he was exceptional throughout. Patrick McKenna at fly-half fed the ball well to his outside backs and his three quarter line also involving Reece Hogarth and Tom Owens were as solid as rocks both in defence and attack.

At half-time and 7-0 up, St. Mary's were in control. All aspects of their game were going well with Ben Blackburn, Jack Dwyer and Ben Sloan all making significant yards whenever they got the ball. Lawrence Gillam and Dominic Allen came on and destroyed the Ormskirk scrum in the second half. David Abbott also came on in the forwards and made some good runs, probing the Ormskirk defence. Paddy Power and Mitchel Smith came on on the wings to give inject some pace into the game and in the final 15 minutes Rob Howat came on at flanker and immediately pressurized their fly-half, putting in a huge tackle.

Despite all 21 boys great efforts, Ormskirk scored a fantastic solo try under the posts in the dying minutes to secure a magnificent draw which all on show agreed was a very fair result.

Well done to all the boys who showed so much mental and physical strength coming back from a heavy defeat the year before to do the College proud. FIDEM VITA FATERI.

FINAL RESULT: ST MARY'S COLLEGE 7 - 7 ORMSKIRK RUGBY CLUB

Elsewhere, the under 13s beat a St. Anselm's XV 34-29 with a fine hat-trick from Stephen Lane and the under 12s lost 32-12 to the same opposition. Well done to all of the boys.