U14s - South Yorkshire Inter District Trial

Barnsley 5 v Doncaster 5

Barnsley 0 v Rotherham 10

Barnsley 0 v Sheffield 30

This weekend saw Barnsley under 14’s travel across South Yorkshire to Wickersley Sports College to take part in the district trials against combined squads from the Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield areas.

The format of the day sees each district of South Yorkshire play each other in a round robin competition; with each district team being made up of players from the clubs and schools within their respective areas, i.e. Barnsley (Barnsley/Hemsworth/Stocksbridge), Doncaster (Doncaster/Wheatley Hills/Thorne), Rotherham (Dinnington/Rotherham/Wath) and Sheffield (Sheffield/Tigers/Mosborough).

Unfortunately (or otherwise) for Barnsley, their district squad was selected solely of boys from either Barnsley RUFC or local schools as neither Stocksbridge or Hemsworth were able to field players in this age group.

Despite the atrocious weather conditions Barnsley started the first game against Doncaster brightly. With both teams being evenly matched it was no surprise when Kyle Holmes went over in the second half to level the scores at 5 v 5, which is how the game remained to the final whistle.

Next up for the Barnsley were Rotherham; in another closely matched affair with the players of both squads giving their all, it was Rotherham who ran out the eventual victors with a 10 v 0 scoreline at the final whistle.

With the weather improving and the sun making an appearance, Barnsley’s final game of the morning was against the much fancied Sheffield squad. With tiring legs Barnsley struggled to match the handling and pace of the Sheffield backs who ran out eventual 30 v 0 winners.

With all games completed, there was some good news for the Barnsley squad following the selectors meeting as five boys were called back for further training and assessment with the South Yorkshire squad. The successful five were Fred Butcher (Hooker), Jordan Darwin (Second Row), Jordan Gray (Back Row), Kyle Holmes (Back Row) and Josh Smith (Centre).