U14s - Barnsley Vs Dinnington

Under 14’s – Barnsley 5 v Dinnington 32

With original opponents Malton & Norton unable to fulfil their commitment; a hastily arranged fixture saw Barnsley RUFC Under 14’s host Dinnington at Shaw Lane in their first home game of the new season.

Resplendent in their new kit which has been kindly sponsored by I.J. Social Ltd of Dodworth, Barnsley were looking for an accomplished performance to match their appearance and with the weather being in complete contrast to the wind and driving rain of last weekend the conditions were conducive to a game of fast and expansive rugby.

Barnsley were however likely to find this weeks opponents more of a challenge, both physically and tactically as Dinnington are one of the squads whose presence is more than a match for the home side.

Nonetheless, from the kick off Barnsley showed their resolve and strength as Dinnington brought the game to home side. For the first 15 minutes of the game Barnsley were pinned back in their own half by the visitors who were clearly intent on gaining an early score. Resolute in their defence Barnsley were more than a match for the visitors in their scrum, with the front five of Owen, Butcher, Thistlewood, Taylor and Atkinson putting in a Herculean effort and even when the visitors did secure quick ball and run it, the efforts of wingers Kelly, Westmoreland and Full Back Jack Smith ensured that the scores remained even. An early injury to Captain and Scrum Half Josh Smith saw Barnsley forced into an early reorganisation of their backs and it was nice to see the return of Yeardley to his old club.

Despite their massive efforts and more than their fair share of possession, Barnsley were unable to trouble the visitors try line and eventually the pressure began to tell as Dinnington’s backs ran in three tries wide which went unanswered by Barnsley to give them a 15 - 0 half time lead.

The second half saw some changes amongst the Barnsley forwards with Townend adding some guile to the front row and Bailey and Darwin some steel to the second. But despite these changes the second half continued in much the same vein as the first half had ended; with Barnsley unable to capitalise upon their possession and the continued pressure from the visitors saw then run in another try out wide to make the score 20 – 0. As the half wore on Barnsley’s refusal to be dominated by the Dinnington forwards began to pay dividends as Butcher continued to win ball against the head in the scrum and Darwin all loose ball in the line-out.

This put the visitors on the back foot as Barnsley, perhaps for the first time were beginning to gain the upper hand in a very closely contested game. The assured running of Gray from the back row and his accurate kicking kept Barnsley going forward. By now, Powell was proving to be an absolute menace to the visitors in broken play and the quickly recycled ball was beginning to release the trio of Lawton, Corner and Harrison on a regular basis. It was only the sterling efforts of the visitor’s defence which stopped these lads putting Barnsley onto the scoreboard.

Nonetheless Dinnington continued to threaten whenever they were in Barnsley’s half and a well executed back row line-out move saw then run in a further try under the posts which was converted. With only minutes to go Dinnington ran in their final try of the game to make the score 32 – 0.

Barnsley, who were beginning to realise that their opportunities of getting on the scoreboard in this game were quickly vanishing returned to the halfway line clearly galvanised by some inspirational words from within the squad and with a spring in their steps. The kick off was claimed by Barnsley and quick ball saw Gray go on a rampaging run towards the visitors try line and although stopped short, the ball found it’s way out wide to Captain Josh Smith with Dinnington only being able to prevent Barnsley scoring by committing an infringement 5 meters out from their try line.

Barnsley showed great tactical awareness with the resulting penalty move as Darwin crashed through 3 tackles before emerging from underneath a pile of players having scored Barnsley’s only points of the game with the final play. Gray, although coming close, was unable to add to the points tally with the conversion, giving a full time score of Barnsley 5 v Dinnington 32.

In a much closer fought game than the final score suggests, man of the match awards went to Fred Butcher (Forwards) and Jacob Lawton (Backs).