Kingsway Power have been crowned 2022 U14 National Club Finals champions after a 23-24 extra-time victory over Turnford.
In doing so, Kingsway Power also completed a remarkable run which saw them secure a perfect record across the two days of action.
The top 18 teams from all over the UK travelled to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May as the competition took place for the first time in three years.
Kingsway Power progressed through the group stages unbeaten as they reached this year’s final.
They narrowly edged out AP Saints (20-19) then saw off Oaksway (24-10) to top Group C before their momentum continued with comfortable 11-37 and 13-37 victories over Leeds Athletic and Team Matrix respectively.
Kingsway Power continued to showcase their title credentials on the second day of the competition, overcoming 2019 champions and North West rivals Oldham (35-18) and then Eagles (22-15), to set up the final showdown with Turnford.
Turnford’s campaign started with defeat to Poole (31-13) but they bounced back to beat Team Matrix (16-21) to secure second place in Group B before seeing off Ryland (9-38) and Oaksway (30-12) after a re-jig of the groups.
They found themselves up against familiar faces to start day two as they came up against Poole once again, but this time took the upper hand and avenged their opening day defeat with a nail-biting 19-18 win.
Sam Bird’s side then dispatched Grangetown (25-11) to seal their spot in the grand finale.
The U14 final was a tightly fought game with both sides leaving their all on court and every pass, goal and intercept roared by the vociferous crowd.
Turnford started strongly to establish an 8-2 advantage at the end of the opening quarter, but Kingsway Power responded well in the second to cut the deficit to just a single goal at half-time (11-10 to Turnford).
Kingsway Power turned the game on its head in the third quarter, drawing level then accelerating away to have a four-goal cushion heading into the final seven minutes (14-18).
The atmosphere in the arena was electric and Turnford continued to plug away to close the gap with a late surge making it 21-all and sending the game into extra time.
And it was Kingsway Power who took the title and lifted the trophy after recording a 23-24 win.
In the third-place play-off, it was Oldham who came out on top in their battle with Poole to take bronze after a 34-20 victory.
Here are the final standings:
1st: Kingsway Power
2nd: Turnford
3rd: Oldham
4th: Poole
5th: Eagles
6th: Grangetown
7th: Team Matrix
8th: AP Saints
9th: Oaksway
10th: Swan
11th: Chevrons Red
12th: Lincoln City
13th: Parkside
14th: Leeds Athletic
15th: Bath Cougars
16th: Ryland
17th: CFX
18th: Charnwood Rutland
The full set of results can be viewed here.
A huge congratulations to all of the clubs that made it through to the finals weekend and thank you to all players, parents, officials, volunteers and staff for a fantastic weekend of action.
