NORTHLEIGH CE Primary School are officially 'top of the class' when it comes to tag rugby.

To claim that honour, the north Malvern primary school had to overcome some stiff competition in the Malvern & District Large Schools Tag Rugby Festival held at Malvern Rugby Club.

The fickle early spring weather conditions could have wrecked the after-school festival, but fortunately by the time the seven competing primary schools arrived at Spring Lane, the sun was shining and the pitches were firm underfoot.

In the early stages of the festival, it was Great Malvern Primary School who were most impressive. After beating Kempsey 9-0 and Powick 8-1, the Pickersleigh Road school then went on to demolish Malvern Link CE Primary by a massive 14-1.

However, in their match against Northleigh, Great Malvern's unbeaten run was ended abruptly. The match was a real thriller, with the ball moving freely as both sides tried to exploit each others defence. Every player from the two school teams competed with passion, but eventually it was Northleigh who took the advantage and the match by 6-5.

However the drama was not over. After a shakey start against the Year 5 players from Somers Park that ended in a 7-7 draw, Upton CE Primary began to pick up the pace. With back-to-back wins against Powick (7-4) and Kempsey (7-5) and Malvern Link (8-4), Upton had to beat Gt Malvern and Northleigh to claim the championship.

Against Gt Malvern, Upton held on to a slim one try lead until the last minute of the match, but a couple of unforced errors gave the advantage to Gt Malvern, who scored twice to win the match by 6-5.

With the championship now out of their grasp, Upton took the role of the king makers. A big win against Northleigh would make Great Malvern champions, but would also put Upton in the runners-up spot.

In a exhilarating encounter that ended 7-7, Upton could not find the edge that would give them the big win they were after.

On the other hand, Northleigh were totally unaware of how important a victory was at that point of the festival, casually settled for the draw. Therefore, with just one point difference at the top of the table, Northleigh became the 2004 Malvern & District Large Schools Tag Rugby champions.

The competing schools would like to express their thanks to Mark Mumby, the headteacher of Upton CE Primary School, for organising the tournament and to the Malvern Rugby Club for providing the facilities and match referees.