No not the Dragons against Treviso but the thrilling Tata Steel Gateway Tag Final fought out by two local Newport Schools with St Andrews proving slightly stronger than the Langstone team by three tries to two.
After winning their respective group tournaments, this final game took place at Rodney Parade during the half time break of the Dragons final home game and with over 6,000 spectators the kids had the experience of a lifetime.
The crowd played their part cheering both teams on and even some good natured joshing of the referee our very own development officer Janice Chappell.
The game swung to and fro and kept the crowd on their toes right to the end. It was finally decided by a superb team try that showed slick hands and some cunning running for Keegan Johnsey to score the decisive winning try with less than a minute from full time.
Janice was rather puffed after the match but having got her breath back she awarded the most valuable ‘Player of Steel Award’ to the Langstone Primary flyer Ollie Andrews who gave his all to the Langstone cause.
“It was a smashing game” beamed the Community Manager Mike Sage as he introduced Tata Steel Section Leader David Brown, the sponsors of the competition to make the awards alongside Dragons stars Huw Gustafason and Darren Waters. “The standard of tag rugby that those teams displayed showed everything we do at our Gateway sessions is getting through to the pupils.” he said.
The winning coach, teacher Mr A Moses from St Andrews Primary was delighted with the result, “We have had a wonderful time and the kids have a memory that will be forever in their minds” he said as he held the cup aloft.
The second half winning display from the Dragons was almost an anti-climax to the excitement of the Gateway Final!!
Once again, many thanks to Tata Steel for their continued support of the Dragons Community Department and the grand final.
