U14s - Barnsley Vs Old Rishworthians

Barnsley 19 v Old Rishworthians 24

A new year, a new beginning.

Despite the break for the festive period and the cancelled game immediately prior, Barnsley
U14’s were keen to get the New Year off to a successful start as they hosted Old Rishworthians at Shaw Lane this weekend. In a much anticipated game for the two evenly matched teams, both sets of players were keen to put down a marker of their intent.

Unfortunately for Barnsley, who were receiving the kick off, things didn’t go exactly to plan. A rocket like ball from Jack Yeardley that was whipped out from the base of the first ruck was just a little too quick for Jacob Lawton who knocked on in the wet and damp conditions. The resultant scrum gave the visitors their only piece of possession from set plays throughout the game and they set about running the ball through their fast and elusive backs……….the outcome, 5 v 0 to Old Rishworthians.

For whatever reason Barnsley ignored this wake up call and must still have been at the breakfast table following the restart, because it wasn’t long before the visitors were able to run in another easy try. 10 v 0 to the visitors and not even ten minutes played.

Then something special happened………..the Barnsley pack awoke; and what followed was an absolutely awesome display of controlled and domineering forward play. At every scrum Sam Owen, Fred Butcher and Luke Townsend terrorised their opposite numbers as time and again, the Rishworthian scrum crumbled right in front of them. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t a Barnsley put in because sure as eggs were eggs, the ball would come back in the direction of the hosts. Barnsley didn’t have that many throws at the line out, but it didn’t matter because Jordan Darwin stole every bit of ball that went skyward. At the base of every ruck and maul, Jacob Bailey, Kyle Holmes and new recruit Eddie Fox left a trail of destruction and opposition body parts as they relentlessly drove forward. Occasionally the forwards would allow our half backs a feel of the ball, but only on the basis that it was kicked to safety and allow the whole process to begin again.

Possession and pressure eventually told as Barnsley quickly levelled the scores with two tries from Fred Butcher and one from Jordan Gray; who managed to convert his and one of Fred’s to give a half time lead of 19 v 10.

Whilst this part of the game was a one sided contest, the Old Rishworthian pack did not back down from the challenge, they were just overpowered, as time and again the pack drove over only for the referee to judge that the ball was held up. From this commentators viewpoint it looked like it was impossible to ground the ball due to the number of opponents who had ‘folded’ before the forwards.

The second half was to be a different challenge as the visitors now had the wind at their backs and whilst the expected aerial barrage never really materialised it was nice to see Adam Fretwell being able and confident to deal with anything that came his way. A number of fresh faces were introduced into the mix with Ben Thistlewood and Sam Atkinson and whilst when Barnsley had possession the result never looked in danger, when the visitors backs were running they always looked likely to score.

The game ebbed and flowed for much of the remainder of the half. Despite their possession the Barnsley forwards could not ground the ball even when crossing the try line. Likewise for the visitors backs whose efforts were either snaffled out by running into touch or by covering tackles.
On occasion, Michael Limb stepped up to the mark and threatened to jig and run his way through the visitors defence, but eventually all to no avail. A later raft of substitutions saw the introduction of Dylan Taylor, Steven ‘the Samurai’ Warrior and Connor Semley and with time ebbing away a combination of a lack of concentration on the part of the hosts and a display of good running/handling skills allowed the visitors to score two converted tries and giving them a 24 v 19 victory.

Man of the match awards went to Eddie Cox (Forwards) who was playing his first game of competitive rugby for the team and Adam Fretwell (Backs).

1. Sam Owen
2. Fred Butcher
3. Luke Townsend
4. Jacob Bailey
5. Jordan Darwin
6. Eddie Cox
7. Kyle Holmes
8. Jordan Gray
9. Jack Yeardley
10. Jacob Lawton
11. Michael Limb
12. Josh Smith (C)
13. Paul Kelly
14. Aaron Westmoreland
15. Adam Fretwell

Subs:
Ben Thistlewood
Sam Atkinson
Dylan Taylor
Steven Warrior
Connor Semley