U14s - Barnsley Vs Huddersfield

Barnsley 5 v Huddersfield 34

Without a game since the beginning of the month, Barnsley U14’s welcomed West Yorkshire adversaries Huddersfield to Shaw Lane this Sunday. Barnsley last played the visitors in the Yorkshire Cup towards the close of last year. After a closely matched first half Huddersfield ran out the eventual victors, Barnsley were looking forward to a similarly closely fought game today.

The reluctance of some of the forwards to take the ball from the kick off led to the hosts being put under some unnecessary pressure straight away. That said, Barnsley looked industrious and well organised in defence throughout the early exchanges to such an extent that they forced Huddersfield to change their attacking options on a number of occasions.

As has been the case for the majority of the season, the Barnsley forwards were imperious at the set play; led by Sam Owen and Ben Thistlewood in the scrum, with Fred Butcher and Jordan Darwin filling similar pivotal roles in the lineout. In addition there was a constant stream of progress across the gain line from the base of the scrum from Jordan Gray and his back row counterparts.

Nonetheless, after about 15 minutes of play, Huddersfield crafted the opening their early pressure deserved when an overlap was created on the left wing to allow them to cross for the first points of the morning which were duly converted through an excellent kick from the touchline. Shortly after the restart, a freak shoulder injury to Jordan Darwin saw him take no further part in the game and was replaced by Sam Atkinson. Despite this setback Barnsley were still intent on levelling the scores, most noticeably through a couple of driving mauls that were set up close to the Huddersfield try line. It was only the desperate defence of their opponents and the fact that many of the Barnsley forwards were too upright, that they were stopped short of the line.

Nonetheless it was Huddersfield that maintained and increased their lead by running in a further 4 unconverted tries to give them a 27 v 0 lead at half time.

Some words of encouragement from the coaches saw Barnsley take to the field in the second half with the wind at their backs with the intention of putting in a much improved performance. Although Jacob Lawton was having problems judging the distance on his restarts, it was reassuring to hear the loud thud of his boot when Barnsley were under pressure; and it was also nice to see the remainder of his counterparts in the back division grow an inch or two in stature (yes even the diminutive Steven Warrior) as they put in one of their better collective performances of the season.

It came as no surprise then, when following a period of protracted Barnsley pressure, Kyle Holmes finished off a move to score the first points of the half. Despite the Barnsley pressure and their combative defence, Huddersfield still posed a very real attacking threat and so it proved, when with only minutes remaining there were able to escape the grasping clutches of Jacob Lawton and Jack Smith to score the final points of the game to give them a 34 v 5 victory at the final whistle.

Man of the match awards went to Sam Owen (Forwards) and Paul Kelly (Backs)

1. Sam Owen
2. Fred Butcher
3. Ben Thistlewood
4. Jacob Bailey
5. Jordan Darwin
6. Eddie Fox
7. Kyle Holmes
8. Jordan Gray
9. Josh Smith (Captain)
10. Jacob Lawton
11. Michael Limb
12. Paul Kelly
13. Jack Smith
14. Aaron Westmoreland
15. Adam Fretwell
16. Luke Townsend
17. Dylan Taylor
18. Sam Atkinson
19. Steven Warrior
20. Connor Semley

Ref: Terry Smith