BOROUGH champions Grange Park added another feather to their cap by winning the North London and Eastern Counties Regional final at Chigwell.

The Enfield primary school, representing Middlesex, recovered from a hesitant start to shade Southend 3-2 in a pulsating final.

Southend opened up a 2-0 lead before the influential Tom Rottier gave his side an invaluable lifeline before half-time.

An exhilarating solo effort by Rottier levelled the scores after the break, before Kasim Iqbal's fine score and some heroic defending did the rest.

Jubilant Grange Park head teacher Paul Smith said: "The side played with great focus and determination, and were ruthless when they needed to be. All the hard work paid off."

Grange Park were a little tentative in the pools stages. They won easily against Dunningford, but had to dig deep to beat Ellen Wilkinson (2-1) and Sheringham (4-3).

This enabled the purples to progress to the semi-final pool, in which they dropped a point following a 3-3 draw with Milton Hall.

But victories either side of that against Kimpton and Manor Fields (5-2) guaranteed a place in the final.

The 18-team tournament included the best tag rugby sides from primary schools in Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

Grange Park are now looking forward to the national finals at Rugby School next month, a competition in which they finished third last year.