Howard of Effingham School reach Wembley final

This is Howard of Effingham's first year playing Rugby League and London Broncos Foundation Development Officer Adam Kyle has worked with the school since September. They played their first game of Rugby League in the Broncos Y7 Super Cup in autumn, and then carried on their winning run through the regional and national rounds until yesterday's semi-final in Wakefield against St Cuthbert's school from St Helens. Howard of Effingham turned round a 10-0 half-time deficit to turn on the style in the second half, running out 20-10 winners and securing their place in history.

In Y8 national semi-final another Broncos development school, Tiffin School of Kingston, were beaten, ending hopes of a London Broncos double in the finals.

The success of the Howard of Effingham and Tiffin schools can be traced back to the decision to widen the scope of the London Broncos Foundation's development activity in summer 2011. Andy Fairhurst, Development Manager, said "Last summer we looked at our coach deployment across the region and made a decision to branch out into Guildford and Surrey. Adam Kyle was set the task of introducing these areas to Rugby League, and Howard of Effingham are one of the schools he brought into the sport. Having two schools from our development programmes in the national semi-finals and the Howard school getting to Wembley is an outstanding achievement. The schools in our programmes get stronger every year, so this is something we hope to see more of."

Adam Kyle had great praise for the school, saying "This is an outstanding achievement from Howard of Effingham, considering that prior to September they had never played Rugby League. Shane Birkett and the PE staff have embraced Rugby League and the Wembley appearance is a reward for the commitment and work they've put in over the year. I'm sure all of London will be supporting the lads at Wembley, it's a great event and something they will never forget".