Queen Mary Men’s Rugby Club (QMRFC), in partnership with QMSU Community Sport, East London RFC and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) hosted a schools’ tag rugby tournament on Friday 23rd October at East London RFC in which 2003 World Cup Winner Jason Leonard made a surprise appearance in front of over 100 pupils.
In July 2015, QMRFC were awarded funding from the Queen Mary University Annual Fund that enabled them to deliver free coaching sessions to schools in Tower Hamlets. 11 students from QMRFC subsequently delivered weekly sessions to schools throughout October to boost the profile of rugby in the community, get children active and promote the values of sport and physical activity.
Off the back of their funding, QMRFC were able to work in partnership with QMSU Community Sport, The RFU and East London RFC to host a multi-school tag rugby tournament as part of the Festival of Rugby to celebrate the current Rugby World Cup. Despite England’s failure to reach the knockout stages of the Rugby World Cup, there was a fantastic appetite for rugby on display, with 10 excited teams entered from all over Tower Hamlets, some of which had not previously played rugby before.
As part of the Festival of Rugby, TV crews from Sky Sports, ITV and EnglandRugbyTV were all present to help capture the spirit of the day. However it was the appearance of Jason Leonard, World Champion with England in 2003, that really grabbed the schools’ attention. Leonard greeted the teams on arrival, taking photos with each school and their QMRFC coach. Following the tournament, each child received a t-shirt and medal for their participation, as well as an invitation to a continuation day at East London RFC to ensure that each child can continue to play rugby on a regular basis.
On behalf of QMSU Community Sport, we offer massive thanks to all that were involved in running the tournament. Over 100 kids were involved in the sessions on the day, and almost 300 took part in QMRFC's weekly tag sessions in schools. For photos of the event (Taken by QMSU's Kat Kwok), make sure you check out our Facebook page.
Be sure to check out England Rugby's and Sky Sports' videoes of the day's event too!