On Wednesday 9^th December 2009, the ESF Lions rugby team travelled from Emmanuel College, Gateshead, Trinity Academy, Doncaster and The King's Academy to York to play against the oldest school in the country; St. Peter's.

The school has been playing rugby for nearly 200 years and has a fearsome reputation having won national competitions in previous years. However, The Lions were also a strong squad, boasting the best tour record since the event was founded. The ingredients for an explosive and hard fought game were in place.

The journey took its toll on the Lions game initially as they were a little slow to start, with St. Peter's camped in the Lions' half of the pitch for the first 10 minutes of the match. However, a decisive break was made by the Lions' half backs and Chester Nixon (squad captain) received an excellent pass that put him in for the first try of the match. This was converted by Richard Barrass of Trinity Academy.

St. Peter's found their form in the second third of the match and romped into a convincing lead, with three unanswered tries and a conversion, to make the score line 17-7.

The Lions appeared to have lost heart until inspirational play from the back row of the scrum, brought the Lions back into contention with a try from Christopher Nicholson. Chris's outstanding play served to inspire the rest of the team with Josh Turner scoring an impressive try from a blistering run in the 22 metre area. The conversion took the Lions into a narrow lead making the score line an exciting 19-17.

The intensity of the match was such, that in the final minutes, the pressure seemed to illicit both errors and courage from players on both sides. The determination of the Lions was impressive as they held on to win the match.

The side was ably captained by Adam Nixon (The King's Year 11 student) and the man of the match, voted for by the St. Peter's players, was Christopher Nicholson also from The King's. Well done to you all.

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