Whilst the clock was counting down to the semi finals of the IRB Rugby World Cup in the "Land of the Long White Cloud" the northern hemishpere was able to boast its own version last week. From an idea hatched by Cumnock Rugby Club Development Officer, Harry Reilly, 21 teams covering almost every Primary 7 class in the Cumnock, Auchinleck and Doon Learning Partnerships converged on Broomfield to play in their own Touch Rugby World Cup event.

Harry commented, " The idea behind the day was primarily to introduce this great game to every P7 child in the area. Whilst out in the schools delivering rugby tuition there was constant feedback from the children of their desire to play rugby outside on a pitch as opposed to in gymnasiums/halls. The IRB Rugby World Cup seemed to offer an excellent opportunity to get the kids onboard by using the television coverage of the national team to increase exposure of the game and create some additional interest."

This event was the culmination of a number weeks work for the Cumnock Rugby Development Team who were out in the schools running sessions teaching the principles behind Touch Rugby and giving the children and staff in the schools a chance to prepare for the festival. The practical work was also backed up by a classroom resource provided to each P7 teacher to increase the childrens awareness of Rugby, The World Cup and the nations competing by looking at social and cultural differences between the countries.

In the initial stages over 400 children took part in the competition, run in an almost identical system to the World Cup, with group stages followed by a knockout phase from quarter finals onwards. As the teams entered as a class the format ensured that every child (boys and girls) who turned out on the day was given an equal opportunity to give rugby a go. Each school entered had been allocated a country that was involved in the world cup and competed as that country. Some of the schools had really taken the country they were allocated to heart with chants and one school learning a Haka, a prematch ritual performed by teams competing form the Island nations in the Southern Hemisphere. Play commenced with some great skills on show throughout the group stages. By lunchtime the teams for the quarter finals were settled.

After the children had been refuelled over lunch the knockout stages began with some very close encounters leading to semi's then the Cumnock World Cup Final. The final between Canada (Logan PS) and Spain (Netherthird PS), watched by all of the remaining teams, produced a very tense game with a 1-0 score line settling the day in favour of Canada. The bronze medal round was settled in favour of Japan(Mauchline 7B) over Wales (Barshare) by an equally narrow margin of 2 tries to 1.

During the medal ceremony thanks were given to a host of people and groups who had contributed to the day including Cumnock Rugby Club Mini Midi Section, East Ayrshire Council Leisure Development Services, Active Schools, Kilmarnock Rugby Club, Kilmarnock College and Scottish Rugby who had provided funding for all of the schools transportation on the day. The event was attended by a trio of elected members, Councillor Morrice, Councillor McGhee and Councillor Shaw ....... who were delighted to see so many children getting involved and were more than happy to help with the presentation of medals.

The last word came from the event co-ordinator Harry Reilly, ".....the day has been an outstanding success, the feedback from the teachers has been extremely positive but most importantly the feedback from the kids has been overwhelming. This change in attitude towards the game as a result of playing outdoors is something that the Cumnock Rugby Development team will be looking to build upon over the current season."