Tornados star for North in national flag competition

On the same weekend as Superbowl LI saw Tom Brady lead New England Patriots to glory in Houston, Burnley Tornados had six players representing the North in a national flag competition.

Taking on the best from Central and South of England, representing the cadets Under 12s were Harrison Hill, Grace Tulloch and Leah Tulloch, and for the junior Under 17s were Khan Durnall, Oliver Norwood and Rob Welti.

The Under 17s were also coached by Tornados and GB player Jensen Fairhurst.

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The Under 17s had their first game against Coventry Panthers girls and won 40-6, with the majority of touchdowns coming from the Tornados players.

The second game was extremely hard-fought against a side much older in comparison, from the South.

The North were down by six at the half, but dug deep with a touchdown and conversion to win 7-6.

The final game of the day was against the Central team, and although the North could not get their running game together, there were some exceptional pass plays from the Chorley quarterback to Tornados’ Welti.

The final score was an 18-47 loss.

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The Under 12s played two games, first up against Central, then the South team.

The North beat Central 14-0, with the Burnley players on the scoreboard with 13 points.

The second game was a much tougher game, and the North struggled to get going but did manage to score 13 points against a very good South team, losing 43-13.

A busy weekend continued, with the Tornados’ new and up and coming senior flag team travelling to Wigan for a friendly game.

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The players had not even trained together but managed to put up a valiant fight, going down 42-38.

The players will now train regularly on Saturdays alongside the other Tornado flag teams.

Then the senior rookie camp took place at the Prairie Sports Village, with nearly 40 in attendance.

This was a well-organised training session for new players to get an idea of the sport.

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This will continue to run for another fortnight, for rookies aged 18 and over to come along and give the sport a go.

No experience is needed as the coaches will guide new players into positions that suit their physique and abilities.

All other training will resume at Holt House on Saturdays for flag and kitted teams.

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