Year 11 Rugby boys lose out in Yorkshire Final!
The Sirius Academy Year 11 Rugby boys fell short of adding another Champion Schools Yorkshire Cup to the two they have won in previous years as they couldn’t overcome a talented Castleford Academy side. The Sirius boys who achieved the highlight of their school Rugby careers last season when they were crowned National Champions, tried hard but eventually paid the price for falling to a 16-0 disadvantage whilst playing up the sloping pitch at Featherstone. The boys now look forward to their final matches in Sirius colours in the Hull Schools Cup competition.
Sirius began the match without their main strike player in Josh Jarvis and leading dummy-half Kieran Sewell who both missed out, and when they were faced with playing up the steep slope in the 1st half, they knew they had to dig deep. Sirius started strongly and made several big runs with Lewis Hewitt breaking through and almost going over before a Josh Lomax pass almost sent Luke Moss over wide-out. With the ever-willing Kai Thorpe, George Tyson-Wilson and Tom Jordan making good yards forward, Sirius looked strong. However the quality of the opposition soon began to tell, with their stand-off half who captained the recent England Under 16 team creating the 1st try to put Sirius 4-0 down. Sirius continued to battle with Brad Elliott, Declan Jackson and Josh Atkinson working over-time in defence and attack. Again the same opposition player did the damage as he raced the length of the pitch before creating another try to put Sirius 16-0 down. Sirius continued to battle through, with the right edge of Jackson, Jay Kirkland and Callum Wilsher holding strong against several Castleford onslaughts. On the stroke of half-time a short Harry Whittles pass sent Elliott crashing through who twisted over to put Sirius 16-4 down at half-time.
Sirius came out fired up after half-time, with the advantage of the steep slope, the game was still well within their reach. Jacob Smith and Connor Cape-Melbourne came into the fray to make strong yards up the middle with Mikey Lewis coming on at dummy-half to smartly control the Sirius go-forward. Half-backs Whittles and Jordan Richmond saw more of the ball and found excellent runners wide out and showed a smart kicking game when called upon. Sirius pressure told as Atkinson broke through to score with Whittles goaling for 16-10. For the final 8 minutes, Sirius threw everything at the Castleford line with Thorpe, Melbourne and Elliott all going close. With the last throw of the dice a cross-field kick was fielded by the Castleford winger who raced through the line to score a full-length try and leave the Sirius lads devastated with a 22-10 defeat.
Special thanks to Glen Bilton, Rachel Gay and Chloe Williams for their help with the team and to ex-6th former Harry Brigham for his help.
Please congratulate the following boys on their successes, attitude and behaviour:
Josh Atkinson, Callum Wilsher, Luke Moss, Jay Kirkland, Josh Lomax, Jordan Richmond, Harry Whittles, Kai Thorpe, Lewis Hewitt, Tom Jordan, Brad Elliott, Declan Jackson, George Tyson-Wilson, Mikey Lewis, Connor Cape-Melbourne, Jacob Smith.
