IT has been an incredible season for the Year 10 rugby team at Malmesbury School.

With over 42 students attending training on a weekly basis, Malmesbury school have enough students to field two teams in this year group.

Theis success began with winning the area championships in Wiltshire, beating all local rivals at Chippenham Rugby club.

The final was contested by Hardenhuish, Malmesbury and Lavington, resulting in Malmesbury School winning the competition.

Malmesbury Year 10s have also been competing in the National Cup, which is a national competition contested by all the top state, Grammar, and Private schools.

There are three competitions for the cup; the Cup, Vase and Bowl. Malmesbury School entered the Vase.

Malmesbury played Wycliffe college in the first round winning 54-0, with 14 players on the pitch, this would set the tone for the rest of the competition.

They also played Marling School in the second round (winning 54-7). Round three would see a very competitive game of rugby against a strong Farmors school in Fairford, resulting in a 21-12 victory for Malmesbury, taking them into the fourth round.

Malmesbury then played Cranmore Independent School, which would be the hardest game of rugby that Malmesbury have ever faced. With 15 minutes to go of the game, Malmesbury were 14-7 down but with some fantastic passages of play, they scored two tries in 15 minutes to win the game 21-14, seeing them progress to the fifth-round.

It was a momentous achievement as no Malmesbury School side has ever gone this deep into the competition and by this stage, they were the only state school left in the whole of the southwest in the competition.

Last week, the Malmesbury played King Edward VI school in Southampton, to decide which team would make the quarter-finals. Despite playing brilliantly, they walked away with their heads held high after a 12-5 defeat.