CHARLES Williams Church in Wales Primary School in Caerleon were victorious in the Spring Shield – the third Newport Schools Rugby Under-11 tournament of the season.

Played in almost perfect conditions, nine teams entered and were split into two groups according to their perceived playing strengths.

A group of five contested the main shield and secondary plate sections, while the winner of the second group of four would play the fifth team from the first group for the bowl.

The seedings seemed well judged with all games closely contested and some hugely enjoyable rugby produced in front of a very appreciative crowd.

Every team enjoyed success while Eveswell were probably the unluckiest of the nine.

They could have won their group but ended up losing one and drawing one of their games in the last seconds.

Their bad luck continued in the play-offs where they again suffered a last-minute defeat against Mount Pleasant and conceded an equaliser in the last play of their 8th/9th game against The Dell, probably the most improved team in the tournament.

Pentrepoeth, appearing in their first event of the season and with a young squad, did extremely well to win the secondary group by one point and thus faced Langstone in the bowl final.

Langstone’s greater experience proved to be decisive as they won a tight match by a single try, but Pentrepoeth can be very proud of their efforts.

Glasllwch and Ifor Hael provided a typically full-blooded contest in the plate final, with both sides fully committed and, after an end-to-end game ended in a draw, they deservedly shared the trophy.

Charles Williams had sailed serenely through the morning, comfortably winning all their games without too much trouble to reach the shield final.

They looked set for a comfortable win as they soon established a seemingly unassailable three-try lead against a shellshocked Marshfield team.

However, Marshfield never give up and soon rocked their opponents by scoring two quick tries to reduce their lead to a single score and have seemingly on the ropes.

They continued to press for the equaliser, only for Charles Williams to hit back with a well-worked try to settle their nerves and secure the Spring Shield by four tries to two.

The next tournament will be for one of the two major trophies of the season, the Nanopharm Cup, which will be played after half term.