JOHN Kyrle High School pupils impressed when Cheltenham Tigers RFC hosted the Gloucestershire under-13 Girls Contact Festival recently.

The pupils were invited to play, following their performances at several local Pitch up and Play events in the autumn.

John Kyrle played five games during the festival winning three, drawing one and narrowly losing one by a single try.

Playing on a 4G surface they won their first game against Chosen Hill 5-4 in tries with newcomer Florence Cook scoring her first ever try and Savannah Griffiths, Captain Bethan Davies, Nayana Bundy and Gracie Harness also crossing the whitewash.

The second game, St Peters was a real try fest with 13 tries being scored, however John Kyrle’s tackling eventually let them down, narrowly losing out by 7-6 despite Griffiths scoring a hatr-trick while further tries came from Savannah (3), Nonny Bruce (2) and Davies.

A strong defensive Ribston Hall side saw John Kyrle pinned back in their own half for much of the game and a Bethan Davies breakaway try was John Kyrle’s only consolation. Ribston scored one try of their own resulting in a 1-1 draw.

John Kyrle’s defensive performance improved greatly in the latter half of the day with impressive tackling across the field preventing Beaufort School from scoring however Cook, Davies and a brace from Bruce for John Kyrle took them to a 5-0 victory.

The team’s final match was against local school Dene Magna, who were yet to be beaten in the festival.

John Kyrle took an early lead with some direct running from Cook, swiftly followed by another from Bruce and a brace of tries from Davies.

The opposition attacked with passion, however John Kyrle were determined to keep a clean sheet in their final game and with Rose Clement spotting space on the outside she outsprinted the defence scoring in the corner for her first ever try.

Ruby Burson finished off with the final try to make it a 6-0 victory.

At the culmination of the festival, tournament officials awarded skipper Davies a trophy for demonstrating excellent rugby skills and awareness throughout the day.

This was presented by Terry Fanolua, ex-Samoan international and Gloucester centre.