Head coch Paul March and twin brother David have penned a new one year deal with York City Knights ending speculation that they may be moving away from Huntington stadium.

York City Knights showed plenty of spirit in a 16 points to 40 defeat at the hands of super league Wakefield Wildcats.Coach Paul March showed he still has super league class setting up all three of the knights tries and should be a key player for York this season.

Barrie McDermott’s Ambassadors took the 2007 Fairfax Cup following a 20-8 victory over Dewsbury Rams in the Final.

It rounded off a fantastic day of rugby league in the 6th York International Nines Festival, which proved to be the most successful tournament to date.

Player-coach McDermott – who dedicated the £2000 prize money to the Brennan Rooney appeal - was joined by former Great Britain internationals Terry O’Connor, Lee Jackson and Gary Connolly in the Ambassadors squad. But the real star of the tournament was 21 year old Jonny Hampsey – a rugby union winger with Leeds Carnegie who was playing his first game of rugby league after expressing an interest in changing codes. Hampsey was selected Fairfax Cup Player of the Tournament by Dave Hadfield of the Independent and representatives of the rugby league media.

A close contender for the honour was Austin Buchanan, outstanding for Dewsbury Rams who made the Fairfax Cup final on their first appearance at the York Nines.

Last year’s champions York City Knights were defeated in the semi-finals by the Ambassadors, following a superb break from Gary Connolly in the final minute which set up the decisive try. The Knights had recovered well after being shocked 20-0 by derby rivals York Ironsides in the opening game of the tournament, but Chris Smith’s Ironsides would ultimately go out at the same stage as the Knights, beaten 16-8 by Dewsbury in the semi-finals.

Earlier on Police Sport UK defended their Archbishop Dolben Cup title, beating the Royal Navy 10-4 in the Final.

FEATHERSTONE Rovers will compete for the front line Fairfax Cup in Saturday’s York Nines Festival after the National League Two side were promoted in the wake of Espagne Origine’s withdrawal from the competition.

Origine, winners of the 2006 Lézignan-Corbières Nines, had been highly fancied to make an impact on their debut at the York Festival. However, with several of their leading players drawn from the French Elite competition sidelined with injury, Origine have declined to send an under strength team to the Festival and instead opened up space for Featherstone to move into the top competition.

Rovers, who were knocked out in the group stage of last year’s Festival, had originally been placed in the Archbishop Dolben Cup competition. They will now take Espagne Origine’s place in Group 1 of the Fairfax Cup alongside holders York City Knights, French Elite club Lyon-Villeurbanne-Rhone and York Ironsides.

They will now compete for the £2000 prize awarded to the Fairfax Cup winners, who will have their trophy presented to them by Wakefield Trinity’s international duo Jamie Rooney and Olivier Elima.

The resulting vacancy in the Archbishop Dolben Cup has been filled by 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, known more commonly as “1 SCOTS”. 1 SCOTS are the current Army Inter-Unit Nines champions, beating 3rd Batallion the Yorkshire Regiment – “3 YORKS” in last week’s final. 1 SCOTS have a fine track record in Army rugby, as Army rugby union Sevens champions between 2001 and 2006 and champions of the rugby league Scottish Summer Conference in 2004, which qualified them to play in the preliminary round of the 2005 Challenge Cup only for the Battalion to be forced to pull out after being deployed to Iraq.

THE Rugby Football League has appointed twelve referees for the York International Nines Festival on Saturday 14th July, including Grade 1 referees Thierry Alibert and Jamie Leahy.

Fittingly for the Bastille Day event, French referee Alibert will take charge of the Fairfax Cup Final. Alibert, a member of the International Panel, has recently been involved in an exchange programme to the UK which saw him referee the Super League fixture between St Helens and Salford at Knowsley Road in May.

Dewsbury-based referee Leahy made his Super League debut last July, shortly after taking the 2006 Northern Rail Cup Final between Hull KR and Leigh.

The other ten tournament officials are Grade 3 referees – normally operating at Junior Academy and National Conference Level. The York Nines will give them first hand experience of refereeing high-ranking professional sides from both the UK and France, with French Elite Grand Finalists FC Lézignan joining York City Knights, Dewsbury Rams and Featherstone Rovers in an impressive Festival roster.

“An event like the York Nines provides a great opportunity for referees to experience a different side of the game – and the more experience they get, the better for their development” commented RFL Match Officials Director Stuart Cummings.

All referees will wear the Carnegie sponsored kit throughout the Festival.

York 9s officials:

T Alibert, C Dean, A Kenning, J Leahy, D Oultram, J Schofield, A Smith, P Stockman, C Swanson, L Todd, G Wallace, P Ward

WAKEFIELD Trinity Wildcats’ internationals Jamie Rooney and Olivier Elima will carry out the official presentation of the Fairfax Cup at the 2007 York Nines Festival.

The selection of an Anglo-French partnership is in keeping with the ‘Bastille Day’ celebration of this year’s event, which takes place on 14 July and features three French sides in the eight team Fairfax Cup competition - including French Elite Championship runners up FC Lézignan.

Rooney and Elima lined up against each other in last season’s Federation Cup clash between England and France at Headingley, which saw Rooney produce a dominant display in England’s 26-10 win, with Elima scoring a consolation try for the visitors. And the 24 year old Elima, one of France’s leading international players, is set to take on the full Great Britain side in Friday’s Frontline Test.

Rooney and Elima will also make a presentation for the junior grade Marston Moor competition.

DEWSBURY Rams will make their first appearance at the York International Nines Festival in the 2007 Fairfax Cup competition.

The Rams, currently running fifth in National League One, will be bidding to take the title away from defending champions York City Knights, and will present a powerful challenge to the leading French Nines teams who will be competing for the Cup.

Entering the Festival represents a leap into the unknown for the Rams, who are untried in the shortened form of the game.

“As a player I played sevens but not Nines, so this is a new venture for me as well as the team,” said Rams coach Andy Kelly.

“I think it’s quite an exciting challenge. The players are looking forwards to it and it will be a welcome release from the National League season.”

In accordance with the Festival rules, the Rams will take a squad of fifteen to the event, which takes place on Saturday 14th July at Heworth. Each fifteen-minute game will involve teams of nine players plus four substitutes who operate an unlimited interchange – with five forwards and four backs taking the field at any one time. Obviously speed will be high on the list of Kelly’s priorities when he comes to select his Fairfax Cup squad.

“We will be looking for pace and agility,” he continued. “We’ve got one or two backs who can double up as forwards and I would imagine that is pretty much where we will focus. We certainly won’t be sending a team of props! We will try and incorporate some fun into training the week before the Festival by bringing in one or two different things related to Nines, we will get some competition going and see who suits it.”

And Kelly, who has been a supporter of the Festival since its inception in 2002, welcomed the entry of teams from the National League into the Fairfax Cup.

“Because I’m a supporter of rugby league I’ve watched the Nines competition at the York Festival grow, and every year there is more and more validity given to the concept because of the standard of teams that are entering it. I think it is already quite an important date on the rugby league calendar, and when you get professional teams arranging their own planning around it, it does give a certain level of credence to the event. People do look for it on the calendar now and it has become a good day out.”

“I think it will create some interest in Dewsbury – our U21s have a good following so I think when you’re offering a day out like the Nines there is no reason why we shouldn’t take a good support to the Festival.

“I would fancy our chances to go and be competitive, but not many of our lads will have played Nines before so we might get caught out by the concept because it is a different game altogether. We will certainly send out a strong enough side, but whether or not we will grasp the concept we will only know on the day.”

Further information on the York International Nines Festival is available on the official website http://www.york9s.ik.com/

BARRIE McDermott will be returning to action this July with a new-look “Ambassadors” squad in the 2007 York Nines Festival. The Ambassadors will be competing for the Fairfax Cup for the second year running, after making the semi-finals in their debut season.

McDermott created the Ambassadors for the 2006 Festival, with the team logo of a ‘handshake of friendship’ designed to symbolise Rugby League bringing together people from different backgrounds and nationalities. The Ambassadors scraped through the group stage as one of the best placed teams finishing third in their group and went on to enjoy an impressive victory over the York Ironsides in the Quarter Final stage before going down to a narrow defeat at the hands of Batley Bulldogs in the Semi Finals.

With a year’s experience behind them, McDermott is looking for the Ambassadors to be better prepared for the 2007 competition.

“Last year’s Nines was one of the most exciting, uplifting and entertaining things I have been involved in,” he recalled. “But I have to admit I was just a little tired after the Festival”

“This year we need to get the balance right of young legs and old heads. I will be talking to a number of recently and not-so-recently retired professionals to put a Nines squad together which is capable of winning the Fairfax Cup.”

“However I feel my team will concentrate on the same things as last year: the true spirit of our great game, the message of good sportsmanship, and above all, enjoyment. That is why we will donate any prize money or winnings we receive to Jamie Rooney’s son who has Cerebral Palsy and to Jamie’s son’s charity “The Brennan-Rooney Appeal”.

“The eight-team format makes it harder to win this year but the organisers are obviously going for excellence and I think that can only be a good thing.

Festival Chairman Neal Coupland welcomed the return of the Ambassadors, commenting: “We are delighted to see the Ambassadors returning to York after a very encouraging debut last season. Barrie’s enthusiasm for the Festival is second to none and the prospect of seeing the Ambassadors compete against the other strong Nines teams in this year’s competition will be one for the spectators to savour.”

McDermott has commissioned a new look team strip for the 2007 Festival which will be unveiled closer to the event.

The 2007 York Nines Festival will take place on Saturday 14th July at Heworth.

York City Knights surrendered a sixteen point lead against the Batley Bulldogs at Huntington stadium on sunday.The defeat means that York must win all their remaining fixtures to have a remote chance of playing in division one next season.

York face a difficult trip to Challenge Cup Semi Finalists Hull Kingston Rovers on wednesday night as the City Knights look to gain a vital win which will help secure first division status next season.The visitors expect star half back James Webster to be available after sustaining stitches in a head wound on saturday against the saints.