Tamworth hosted over 1500 junior athletes across 15 sports while Armidale saw 42 rugby sides from across the eastern seaboard battle it out for top honours in the annual The Armidale School Rugby Carnival.

Now into its 11th year, the carnival has grown into the largest primary-aged rugby carnival in the country.

Eight fields were in operation over the weekend running at half hour intervals for 86 games on the Saturday.

Bulls under 12’s coach, James Quinn, said he was “very impressed” by his players efforts.

“They played extremely well, especially on Saturday. They won two and lost two.

“They kept turning up and kept trying,” Quinn said.

The boys competed in the division three competition and took on teams from Sydney’s Waverley College and Sydney Church of England Grammar School as well as a combined Inverell and Tamworth side and South Toowoomba. 

On Sunday they took on Toowoomba Anglican College and Preparatory School.

“We were in the game with about 10 [minutes] to go but then they ran away with it,” Quinn said.

Meanwhile, in Tamworth, busloads of primary school athletes arrived in town on Friday night, ready for two days of non-stop action all across town.

The second year of the carnival brought record numbers and cemented its place on the primary sports calendar, as teams from all over NSW, southern Queensland and the ACT made the trip.

The Bulls under 10s, taking part for the first time, had a fantastic carnival and finished second out of 15 teams.

They won each of their pool games against Scone, Walcha, Barraba and Central Coast Grammar on day one.

On the Sunday, they bested Narrabri by three tries to two.

In a grand final of sorts, the Bulls took on Scone’s first side and were unfortunate to lose five tries to two.

“They played some very good rugby, but were probably a bit tired by that last game,” club secretary Justin Barnes said.

“They all did really well and played pretty well as a squad,” he said.