U14s - Barnsley Vs Castleford

U14s – Barnsley Vs Castleford

Barnsley 24 v Castleford 7

This weeks' fixture took place on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon, billed as the curtain raiser for the Barnsley 1st Team fixture.

Despite the 15 minute delay for the kick-off, both teams appeared to be keen and ready to get themselves dirty. Barnsley were the first to apply any real pressure, with the pack working like a well-oiled piece of machinery, recycling the ball at will, it was only a question of time as to when they would deliver the first decisive break. This came in the form of a well-worked set of phases, with Fred Butcher eventually going over for the first try of the game. Up stepped Jordan Gray to add the all important extra 2 points, with a well executed conversion kick. 7-0 to the Griffins.

From the restart, Castleford gained some ground and they too showed that they could recycle the ball, as they built up some very useful phase play which culminated in a try right next to the left hand upright. Their successful conversion levelled the score at 7-7.

Barnsley continued to play well, and managed to keep Castleford at bay despite having to make a mid half substitution, with debutante winger Kieran Baker vacating the field, this meant that Paul Kelly would switch from fullback to his preferred position of winger, and Adam Fretwell would take up his familiar fullback position. It wasn't long before Adam Fretwell made his first impact on the game, when he collected a long kick from the Castleford flyhalf and ran the ball back at them for 30 metres, before his pack joined the support play and drove the counterparts back a further 15 metres. Unfortunately the slippery conditions prevented any further advance with a series of unforced errors breaking down the attack.

The hometown coaching staff were parading the touchline, with baited breathe, wondering if this was going to be the point where Castleford would turn up the screw and run away with the game. Thankfully, the Griffins proved them wrong and from the restart, got stuck back in and took the game to Castleford. The Barnsley pack began to apply their weight advantage to get the upper hand in the scrums, with some excellent mauling work by the tight five, including Luke Townsend who made some very telling breaks across the gain line, and shortly before the half time whistle, the ball broke to the backs and with a well directed kick behind the advancing defence, it was left for flying wing-man, Paul Kelly, to apply the finishing touch to the half with a try in the left corner. The conversion was sweetly struck and successful, making the half-time score 14-7 to Barnsley.

To retain continuity, there were no changes made for the restart. The 2nd half restart saw some very good chasing play from the forwards, with Kyle Holmes chasing and tackling as if his life depended on it. Along with some very good support from the rest of the pack, it was the Griffins' turn to up the ante and dominate all the scrums, winning plenty of ball against the head and putting pressure on the Castleford scrum half. All this pressure paid off with the backline being able to run at Castleford on numerous sorties, which ended with two further tries coming from Michael Limb, one of which was created by a very clever piece of play from Jordan Gray, who broke from the base of the maul, creating an overlap and timed his offload perfectly to Michael Limb, who went over for a try in the corner. The conversion attempt was a good effort, but drifted across the posts. 19-7 to Barnsley.

From a deep restart, the Griffins again built up a number of phases, with Jordan Gray and Kyle Holmes breaking from the base of the ruck, crossing the gain line and presenting quick recycled ball to the backline, where Jack Yeardley combined with his fly half, Jacob Lawton, to present the Griffins with their 4th try, scored by Michael Limb, out wide on the right hand side. The conversion again drifted across the posts. 24-7 Barnsley. Despite further Griffins forays into their opponents 22, there were no additional points scored and at the final whistle the score was Barnsley 24 – Castleford 7.

Barnsley Man of the Match for the forwards went to Fred Butcher, for his untiring work in the front row and strong foraging runs.

Barnsley Man of the Match for the backs went to Jack Smith, for his strong defensive tackling and aggressive breaking runs across the gain line.