LAST Thursday saw the culmination of the tenth Under-16s Schools Floodlit Cup competition when Farmor's School, Fairford and Burford School met in the final at Stow Rugby Club.

The two sides had met earlier in the pool stages where Farmor's were victorious 7-6.

After both sides had won their respective semi-finals fairly comfortably, the stage was set for another nail-biting encounter - this time to decide the overall winners.

Both sides were highly motivated and, with Burford playing into the wind, the early encounters saw some fierce hits from both sides.

Attacking opportunities were limited due to each team's strong defensive work but it was Farmor's who broke the deadlock midway through the first half.

They had been unlucky a few times following breaks from Rory Birtwistle and Max Dawe and it was the latter who eventually broke the deadlock.

Possession Alistair Jarvis picked up a loose kick form the Burford full back and secured possession. From the resulting ruck, a well-timed pass from Laurie Miller picked out Dawe who had made an excellent inside run. He pierced the Burford defence and scrambled his way over to score between the posts, Tony Clarke converted to make it 7-0 Burford kept up their good defence with some excellent tackling and safe kicking but, shortly before half-time, Farmor's won a penalty 30 metres out that Clarke was unable to convert and as the sides turned around the score with the scores till 7-0.

Playing with the elements, Burford looked to have the upper hand and it seemed inevitable that they would soon have points on the board.

However, despite their pressure when at times they camped out on the opposition line, a battling Fairford team kept them out. And, with only a couple of minutes remaining, Michael Birtwistle somehow got hold of a loose ball following a scrappy line-out and broke up to half way.

Burford were penalised in their attempts to get their hands back on the ball and Farmor's were able to clear their lines, secure the line-out ball and run down the clock.

The assembled spectators were treated to a highly competitive contest from two totally committed teams, showing just how important this competition has become since its inauguration ten years ago by Cotswold School rugby guru Derek Thomas.

Stow Rugby Club would like to thank letting agents Town or Village for their sponsorship and club secretary Stuart Cherry for his dedication operating the bar and providing teas for the teams throughout the competition.