YOUNGSTERS at St John's Church of England Primary School in Buckhurst Hill have been crowned the district's best rugby players after a tournament involved hundreds of children across the area.

The contest, organised by the West Essex Schools Partnership and the Spirit of Rugby group, has seen a series of matches over the last few weeks involving most of the area's schools.

The event, held to encourage more pupils to get involved in the sport, finished with a grand final between St John's and Buckhurst Hill Primary School yesterday.

Project development manager at the sports partnership, Julia Gardiner, said: "The whole competition has gone really well and the children were fantastic throughout.

"It was good because every team had to have at least three girls, so it wasn't just all the boys and there was a real mix of players.

"Another thing that was really special about the day was all the children stopped at 11am for the two minutes Armistice Day silence.

"It was amazing to see all the teams link arms and pay their respects, considering they were all aged between nine and 11 they all behaved very maturely."

St John's school will now go on to compete in the Essex county finals to be held in Southend later this year.