Excitement is building for the rescheduled final game of the 2022/3 schools’ rugby season to decide the winners the County Cup which has finally been arranged for 22 March at 1.30pm on the artificial grass pitch at Chippenham RFC.

Rain stopped play earlier in the year for Y11 students from Sheldon School, Chippenham and Devizes School waiting to compete in the final, due to an unusually wet January.

Chris Salter, Sheldon’s head of boys’ PE, said: “Unfortunately the weather wasn’t kind to us, meaning the pitches were all waterlogged at the beginning of the year, and since then the students have had to concentrate on preparing for exams, so the final County Cup game had to be postponed.

“This was really disappointing for our 1st XV who have continued training whenever possible.

“And rearranging the match was challenging because at the end of the rugby season all the school pitches were switched over to football, so we had to find an alternative venue – and many thanks to Chippenham ACP for allowing us to use theirs.

“One change for the team will be the new kit we’ve been gifted by local housebuilder, Redcliffe Homes, which is a very welcome replacement for our previous rather tired shirts.

“One of our PE teachers, Liam Burcombe, has a dad who works for Redcliffe and he was aware they like to support local causes.

“We were delighted when they said they’d provide the new shirts, and the team is looking forward to wearing them.”

Sheldon School has a good record for rugby successes, and ex-pupil Thompson Cowan has recently earned a call-up to the Wales Under-20s squad for the upcoming U20 Six Nations.

Redcliffe Homes is the independent house builder behind Rowden Brook, part of Chippenham’s new Rowden Park Garden Village.