Year 8 produce champion performance to win Yorkshire Cup!

[13 Mar 2013]

The Sirius Academy Year 8 Rugby team produced an outstanding performance to stun the previous champions, and the team that had comfortably beaten Sirius the year earlier, Honley (Huddersfield). The team were excellent in every aspect of the game, defending bravely and also showing great Rugby ability to repeatedly open up the Honley defence. The result was well deserved and the boys now look forward to the Carnegie Champion Schools National Cup.

The first half saw Sirius begin with great intensity in both defence and attack, with Kai Thorpe, George Tyson-Wilson and Brad Elliott leading from the front. In attack Josh Atkinson made several great runs, with Josh Kirby using the ball well around the play the ball. In their first attack great play from half backs Callum Wilsher and man of the match Harry Whittles created space for Thorpe to crash over out-wide and he added the extras also for a 6-0 lead. Back battled Honley who through their most dangerous player proved difficult to control, and they crossed for the next two tries for a 10-6 lead. Defensively Sirius then stepped up, with Brett Dorley, Ryan Addinnall, Kieran Sewell and Jordan Webb making several telling tackles to prevent the Honley attack going out wide, and up the middle Keane Stevenson and Declan Jackson defied their Year 7 status to front up to the bigger Honley forwards. On the stroke of the half time the Whittles and Elliott combination that caused problems all evening produced a try, with Elliott storming over to level up the scores at 10-10.

The 2nd half started with good spells of possession for Sirius, who controlled the ball with great skill to build pressure on the Honley line. Lewis Hewitt entered the match and gave added speed around the play the ball, and Josh Lomax began to cause problems to the defence with his strong running. With Tyson-Wilson leading from the front, the position was set for Whittles to float a cross-field kick in for Thorpe to collect with Whittles goaling for a 16-10 lead. Honley tried to respond but the Sirius defence was excellent, and when in attack, Sirius grew in confidence with Atkinson, Elliott and Thorpe making yards at will. With another score needed it was a combination of Wilsher and Whittles who created space for Elliott to crash over to put Sirius 20-10 up with eight minutes left. Joseph Coates and Rowan Foster added extra energy to the side, with Coates making half breaks, however it was fittingly Elliott who crossed for his hat-trick powering over after a good run, before Whittles added a late penalty to send the Sirius players into celebration as the referee blew for a 26-10 victory.

Special thanks to Rachel Gay for her support with the team and to Jon Flatman, Simon Jewitt and Paddy Deer for travelling and supporting the boys, it was much appreciated.

Please congratulate the following boys on their outstanding attitude, success and behaviour:

Josh Atkinson, Jordan Webb, Brett Dorley, Jay Kirkland, Kieran Sewell, Harry Whittles, Callum Whilsher, Kai Thorpe, Josh Kirby, Tom Jordan, Josh Lomax, Brad Elliot, Ryan Addinnal, Lewis Macklin, Joseph Coates, Lewis Hewitt, George Tyson-Wilson, Keane Stevenson (Year 7), Declan Jackson (Year 7), Rowan Foster.

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