Year 10 Rugby boys go down to close defeat!
The Sirius Academy Year 10 Rugby boys came agonisingly close to upsetting last season’s Yorkshire Cup finalists St Wilfred’s Catholic High (Wakefield). The team put in a great effort to come within touching distance of claiming an excellent victory but unfortunately a last minute pass fell to the ground which prevented Sirius taking the win. The Sirius team scored the same amount of tries as their opponents but crucially, their opponents landed two conversions to Sirius’ none. The team now must wait until after Christmas to begin the defence of their Hull Schools Cup.
Sirius started the match in great fashion as Declan Jackson kicked the ball “dead” from the kick-off to get possession straight back. After two strong drives from the hard-working pair of Rhys Purchon and Keane Stevenson, the ball was used well by Connor Matthews and Mikey Lewis who fed Jack Scottow who in turn sent Dylan Hepworth over wide out for a 4-0 lead. Hepworth almost doubled the lead minutes later from an identical play but was held up by last ditch Wilfred’s defence. As Sirius were challenged to defend, Reece Gooch was instrumental with some strong tackles, followed by Jackson, Tyler Hackett and Jack Arnett. Wilfred’s posted a quick fire double to take a 10-4 lead. Sirius coped with the pressure well as wingers Callum Riley and Joseph Sedman produced some excellent tackles with Scottow returning the kicks with interest. Wilfred’s gained a lucky bounce of the ball to take a 16-4 lead with one minute remaining until half-time. Jackson produced another excellent kick-off to gain possession back and Matthews sent Gooch over wide-out to give Sirius hope as they went into half-time trailing 16-8.
The 2nd half saw Wilfred’s strike first to take a 20-8 lead with 25 minutes left. Matthew Wilson entered the game to have a strong impact in the middle, as Kieran Bartlett continued to probe well from dummy-half. Arnett split the Wilfred’s defence but was ankle-tapped as he tried to sprint clear. Matthews produced a moment of individual brilliance as he dummied through from 60 metres out and rounded the full-back to dive over in the corner for 20-12. Samir Tarafedar entered the game on the wing and dealt with some challenging kicks. Jack Hassard entered the game to add extra spark around the middle and he created the next Sirius try as he dummied through and kept his composure to send Gooch over for his 2nd try, however crucially this was wide out again so the kick was missed and Sirius were left 20-16 behind. Sirius continued to push for the winning try and it looked certain as Lewis chipped over for Scottow to chase, who collected and as he about to send Lewis over for the winning try, the pass was deemed forward and Sirius were left so close to a fantastic victory.
Special thanks to Rachel Gay for her help with the team.
Please congratulate the boys on their attitude, effort and behaviour:
Jack Scottow, Callum Riley, Reece Gooch, Dylan Hepworth, Samir Tarafedar, Jack Hassard (Year 9), Connor Matthews, Keane Stevenson, Kieran Bartlett, Harrison Longden, Jack Arnett, Tyler Hackett, Declan Jackson, Rhys Purchon, Matthew Wilson, Mikey Lewis, Joseph Sedman.
