Year 9 Girls come close to reaching National Finals
The Year 9 girls rugby league team is certainly the most improved team this year, with an impressive performance at the Yorkshire Finals in Oulton. Credit must goto to the full squad, as they looked a lot more organised, which comes down to their commitment levels at training and them wanting to learn. The girls were drawn in a very competitive league consisting of Settle High, Templemoor and last years Yorkshire finalists Ossett.
Sirius 18 Settle 12
In the first match of the tournament, Sirius stamped their mark on the competition with a good win against a really organised and strong Settle team. Jorden Shakespear was too much for the opposition, running in two quick tries. But Settle were next on the scoresheet to put a bit of pressure on the Sirius team, but the girls stood strong in defence, with Megan Jordan, Shauna Jones and Braxton Adams working hard in the middle, making sure they did not break through. Carla Manuel, Demi Leake and Emily Savage were gaining lots of yards forward to put Sirius in good field position and after a quick play the ball, acting half back Ellie Hewitt was quick to spot the overlap and passed the ball to Jorden Shakespear who powered over for her hat-trick, with Ellie Hewitt converting all three. Settle scored in the dying minutes but it was too little too late, with Sirius taking the victory.
Sirius 6 Ossett 18
Mistakes in the early stages of the game made it very difficult for Sirius to come back from, a knock on from the kick off resulted in an Ossett try and then when a pass went astray from a scum to Sirius, Ossett were quick to capitalise, making the score 12 – 0 to Ossett in the first five minutes. Sirius however did not give up and actually got back the much needed aggression in attack and defence, and they were rewarded just before halftime when Jorden Shakespear raced over, converted by Ellie Hewitt to make the scoreline 12 – 6, and Sirius were back in the game. Both defences stood strong in the early stages of the second half, with Shannon Thornton and Aimee Harris tackling their hearts out on their own line. Natalia Butler also came up with a try saving tackle out wide, as the girls really upped their game. But as they needed to chase the game, they tried to keep the ball alive, but again the bouncing ball was pounced up by Ossett, who raced over for the try that would seal the game. Sirius knew that they could have won this one, and only their errors in bad positions of the pitch had let them down.
Sirius 18 Templemoor 16
Sirius wanted to, and deserved to end on a high against a very fast and physical Temple Moor team. Again it was Jorden Shakespear who went over twice in the early stages of the game, Sirius seemed to take their foot off the gas and let Templemoor come back into it with two quick tries of their own. The try of the match from Sirius came in the second half, Paige Fletcher had raced over 30 yards before being taken down, did a quick play the ball and then a lovely planned drop off move from Shauna Jones to Jorden Shakespear broke the Templemoor defence, but as they held up Jorden up she pulled off a lovely one handed pass to the supporting Carla Manuel, who powered over. Ellie Hewitt converted all three tries. In the final seconds of the game, despite the good efforts of Ellie May Welburn, Georgia Cator and Ellie Mae Norrie, Templmoor went over in the corner, but could not convert to draw the game.
Please congratulate the very committed and improved Sirius Year 9 Girls, who certainly did us proud today:-
Shaun Jones, Megan Jordan, Braxton Adams, Georgia Cator, Natalia Butler, Ellie May Welburn, Ellie Hewitt, Jorden Shakespear, Emily Savage, Carla Manuel, Demi Leake, Shannon Thornton, Ellie Mae Norrie, Paige Fletcher, Aimee Harris
Special Thanks to Cosi Basile for driving the minibus and his support with the girls.
