Three schools braved the torrential rain and freezing wind on Wednesday afternoon to compete in the North London Carnegie Champion Schools Finals. Representatives from Barnet, Haringey and Enfield took to the field in Christ’s College Finchley, Park View Academy and Aylward Academy respectively and all performed admirably in what were near impossible conditions.

The schools played each other once in a round robin format and first up were Park View Academy and Aylward Academy. It took a little while for both sides to get to grips with the conditions with both teams coughing up possession however, it was more the brutal defence that was the cause. Aylward made the break through before the half leading 4-0. It was more of the same in the second half with the scoreline reflecting the first, Aylward clinching it 8-0.

Game 2 saw Christ’s College take on Park View Academy. With conditions deteriorating, Park View had a tough time trying to deal with the powerful surges from the Christ’s College forwards, who controlled the ball superbly and promptly raced into an 18-0 interval lead. Park View showed glimpses of a comeback however, Christ’s responded well and went in for another three tries. All scores were expertly converted by loose forward Jack Jarvis in what were near impossible conditions, making the final score 36-0.

The final game was effectively a winner takes all affair. Both sides struggled to give their best as handling was near impossible and the collisions meant that the ball was constantly turned over. The game finished scoreless which meant that Christ’s College would go through to the London quarter finals as North London’s representative due to the number of tries scored previously.

All players and staff are to be commended for paticipating in what were very demanding circumstances and best of luck to Christ’s College Finchley in representing North London in the next round.