Lancaster Grammar overcome early red to lift cup

LANCASTER Royal Grammar School capped a remarkable turnaround in fortunes with a 20-10 win over Manchester Grammar School to lift the Lancashire County Cup.

The state boarding school lost four of their first six games this season, but have been on an 11match winning run since the October half-term that culminated in the cup final win.

Coach Alex Loney said his team did not lose confidence from those early season defeats, and praised his troops for the way they fought back from 10-7 down in the final despite receiving a red card only 20 minutes in.

He said: “We weren’t playing badly early in the season, we’d just had a few rough results with narrow defeats against very good sides. The boys stayed positive and worked hard all season, so they were desperate to win the final and it was great to do it, especially having only 14 players for so long.

“A lot of our team are leaving this year, but the six or seven guys in the squad who are staying on will take a lot from the win going forward.”

Meanwhile, the U18s National Schools semifinals produced plenty of drama. In the cup, Kirkham Grammar capped a sensational week – in which they also won the Birkenhead 7s – by edging past Barnard Castle School 18-13 on Friday night to set up a clash with Trinity or Sherborne.

Those two schools go toeto-toe at Sixways today, preceded by the U15s semifinals of Ipswich vs QEGS Wakefield and Radley vs Wellington in an exciting triple-header.

In the U18s plate, KCS Wimbledon beat Caterham 28-10, and they will meet Stowe in the final after the Buckinghamshire school hammered Stockport Grammar 41-0.

Some of the big 7s action of the week was postponed, including the Middlesex Schools’ 7s due to waterlogged pitches, but Sedbergh produced an excellent showing to record a sixth Ampleforth 7s title in the last 11 editions of the tournament.