Year 10 Yorkshire Plate

[19 Jan 2017]

The Year 10 rugby lads have secured a place in the second round of the Yorkshire plate after a pleasing display against Spen Valley.

The boys turned up with a positive attitude which was reflected through their disciplined performance. The match started quickly with both teams firing on all cylinders in every position; well at least until the Spen Valley winger broke the silence and went to catch the ball and let it slip through his hands, to hit him directly on top of the head and go out for a Sirius scrum just 10 meters away from their line. A solid foundation was set from the scrum, as Jack Wilson-grey set the platform for the backs to complete the tackle count and handover the ball on the Spen valley line. This dominant field position applied extra pressure on the attacking line, which forced their half back to make an early kick down field.

Although the kick was carefully placed, the outstanding pace of Harry Coulbeck saw him retrieve the ball 60 yards from the opponents line with no added pressure from the defence of the rivals. Harry turned on the burners and skipped past two defenders, then turned their winger inside out to open the scoring for Sirius with the best try of the match. This was converted by Ben Canvess bringing the score to 6-0.

A frustrated Spen Valley restarted the match with a deep kick to Joe Burazin who returned the ball with a barnstorming run to cause problems to the defence. From here, they upped the tempo of the game. This was reflected in a Sirius set that was completed with a kick down field in 50 seconds. This kick found the winger of Spen, who made 20 meters until he threw a massive blatant FORWARD PASS to their number 13 who broke the line and scored in the corner to bring the score 6-4.

Both teams were very evenly matched and playing through frustration. The arm wrestle was at deadlock for the next 10 minutes, there was some clear signs of aggression and frustration as big hits were going in from both teams and the Sirius completion rate dropped from 85% to 45% through forced errors and knock ons. With this said, Sirius began to be very firm but fair in the tackles, hitting and running hard. This took its toll on the defence of Spen, as Kai Green managed to break the line on the touch to turn Tom Borman back inside to go in the corner and extend the lead 12-4. This completed the evenly matched first half.

The half time team talk was to look after the ball and maintain aggression both going forward and in defence. The second half restarted with a deep kick to the corner from Spen Valley with a massive chase to pin Sirius in their 20. The arm wrestle was definitely back on.

The pace was maintained from both teams, until the Spen valley number 13 began to lose his head and let the standards slip, by putting in some cheap shots to give away easy penalties. Eventually his frustration allowed Kai green to bounce him off and throw the worlds biggest dummy to the centre which they all fell for, allowing him to walk in and extend the score to 16-4.

This lead didn’t last as Sirius began to sit back and allow Spen Valley to capitalise at every opportunity from a silly Sirius mistake, until eventually they slid in the corner through simple hands on the far side which created a 4 Vs 1. the scores were close at 16-10.

The game was still very much up for grabs with 10 minutes to go. The passion from both teams was raging as Sirius were on the Spen valley line and Harry Kynman lost his cool, to throw an outrageous fist at the number 13 for slapping him in the tackle. So close to the line but yet so far away through a silly outbreak of frustration. The referee had a word with Harry and the Spen Valley number 13, and both coaches got the message on to be aggressive in the right way.

From the penalty on the Spen Valley line, an outraged Harry Coulbeck put in a massive shot which the number 11 knocked on. A pleased Sirius team were cool, calm and collected and reacted in the correct way through a fierce run by Joe Aitchison, that destroyed the defensive line to secure the win for the boys 20-10.

Overall it was an outstanding display of rugby through two very evenly matched teams. A little silly in places through discipline, but some very nice comments from the Spen Valley teachers about the way that our lads responded and carried themselves.

Well done to the boys….

Harry Coulbeck, Joe Kennedy, Matthew Coulter, Taylor Eastwood, Tom Borman, Brandon Sargeson, Ben Canvess, Joe Aitchison, Jackson Davis-Barker, Joe Burazin, Harry Kynman, Kai Green, Jack Wilson-Grey and Tyrone Wilsher

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