Maesteg School were fortunate enough to be chosen by the WRU to receive a
‘Once in a lifetime’ opportunity, due to our participation and achievements in rugby the past year. As a school, we boast the best statistics nationally for girl’s participation in rugby; alongside this, we have experienced fantastic success throughout the year groups; Ospreys Cup Finalists last year with Year 9, Ospreys East Champions with Year 8 and impressive National competition runs with Year 8 and our Senior Team.
In regards to our Senior Team, this is the first time Maesteg School have had a team compete in the Senior League in over a decade. We have also gone one better and managed to not only run a Boys Senior Team but a Girls Senior Team too!
Our Physical Education department has also decided to flip the traditional sports that pupils experience in KS3. We now have boys playing netball and hockey whilst our girls are experiencing rugby in their PE lessons. This has allowed us to deliver rugby to the whole of Key Stage 3 prior to Christmas!
These achievements combined with the fantastic determination and dedication of our pupils has not gone unnoticed. As a result of this, we were chosen from every school in Wales to experience the ‘Captains Run’ from the Royal Box prior to the Wales v Scotland game. This included a very special tour of the Principality Stadium whilst meeting some players! It just so happened that this special day would include having an assembly ‘gatecrashed’ by Ex-Welsh and British Lions captain Gareth Thomas, only for him to then chaperon eight lucky pupils (who had no idea about this surprise) and accompany them for the day.
“This surprise is deserved recognition for the fantastic children we have at Maesteg School.” Said Mr Davies, Rugby Development Office at Maesteg School. “Their dedication, enthusiasm and love for rugby make our jobs a lot easier! If we provide them with opportunities, they evidently attend in their droves and excel! The only downside was that we were not able to take the hundreds of pupils who have helped to create such a great opportunity for our school.”
“We’d also like to point out the fantastic performance of the Welsh team against Scotland the following day and say that we’re more than happy to attend all Captain Runs in the future as a good luck charm!” exclaimed Mr Davies.
If you missed our pupils in action or would like to watch again, head over to the BBC iPlayer via the link below:
The Big Six Nations Kick Off with Gabby & Gareth: Episode 2
