A thrilling season closer for the Year 11 girls of Castleford Academy and Corpus Christi at Featherstone Rovers’ Millennium Stadium saw Corpus Christi beat the reigning champions, running out 12-26 victors.
After an encouraging start from Corpus Christi, the Leeds outfit made the breakthrough after a great team move to take the lead.
Castleford Academy fought back though, and a powerful run from Olivia Phelan saw her get through the Corpus Christie defence and over the line to level the scores.
Faith Thorp gave Castleford Academy an 8-4 lead just before half-time, after some more great work from Olivia Phelan.
Corpus Christi were straight out of the blocks after half-time, and a mazy run down the right hand side from Frankie Blakely helped the Leeds side gain some valuable yards – Mercy Owade finished off a great move as she powered over to make it 8-8, and Kiera Gittens made no mistake with the conversion to take the lead.
It took just two minutes for Castleford Academy to respond, though. A smart kick from Olivia Phelan allowed Ellie Tiffin to collect the ball in space and put them back in the lead.
It was an end-to-end encounter at the Millennium Stadium, and a great offload from Frankie Blakely set Chevelle Clarke away, once she was off there was no catching her and she restored Corpus Christi’s winning position.
The outstanding Frankie Blakely was at it again soon after, a jinking run and offload allowed Kiera Gittens to run into space and extend the lead further – a blistering start to the second half had the Leeds outfit 12-18 up.
Corpus Christi kept the pressure on and it soon paid off – a flowing move was finished off by Demi-Leigh Abbott as she used her pace to get the better of a number of Castleford Academy players and get over the line.
They didn’t let up, either… Frankie Blakely took matters into her own hands once again and skipped through the opposing defence to score an impressive solo try to make it 12-26, which was enough to secure Corpus Christi’s first ever Champion Schools Year 11 Girls title.
Final Score: 12-26
Player of the Match: KIERA GITTENS
Match Officials: Ben Brocklehurst, Molly Hutchinson, Tommy Gibbs
