BARNSLEY RUFC U16 MATCH REPORT

SHAW LANE, SUNDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2008, 11AM KICK OFF.
OPPONENTS – YARNBURY
REFEREE – DALE HOBSON
SCORE –BARNSLEY U 16’S – 0 YARNBURY – 46

BARNSLEY FAIL TO STRETCH THE “YARN”

There was great anticipation that the lads would put in an effort to equal last weeks heroics, and if not beat YARN, push them very hard.

Our coach, Mark Smith, has consistently said that the lads are playing in a very competitive age group, with few easier games to be had out there.

This game brought home that view very forcefully.

The game was notable for the return of Captain Jim Haigh, James Green and Josh Woolhouse from injury, but omens weren’t good with the absence of Brad Wood, a real powerhouse last week.

The same atmosphere and demeanour weren’t quite there this week. Our talisman in the pack, Grant Powell was visibly out of sorts, but we still looked competitive.

Unfortunately from the very start there was only one team at the races, that being YARN.
The scoring opened up soon into the game, and continued in metronomic fashion for the rest of the half.
We showed our true potential in brief flashes, we had scoring opportunities but the passes went to ground, we knocked on, we blew them.

We also played into the hands of a very efficient YARN blitz defence, several of their tries resulted from interceptions and the like, which ought never to have happened.

We conceded 6 tries and were 0 – 34 to our disadvantage at half time.

Whilst we clearly deserved to be losing, it ought to have been more like 0 – 15,but fair play to YARN, they took their chances ruthlessly.

Our relatively ponderous forward showing in the rucks sucked in our half backs far too often (by necessity), leaving gaps for a very fast, intelligent YARN back line to exploit, none more so than their electric fullback. Some of our tackling ranged from awesome to none-existent, it was just one of those days.

Second half (albeit the game was effectively over) was a different story, we dug deep, we battled, but we just didn’t have the goods against a very well organised, and motivated outfit.

One lad that put is all into the performance, despite being under severe pressure in the set-piece was Tyler Smith, who gave a pit-bull performance worthy of the great Brian Moore (He now commentates on international matches lads). Unfortunately not enough of his pack responded often enough to his rallying cries.

We conceded a further 2 tries to end up losing 0-46.

The lads can hold their heads up, they did not give in, and the score line was not as comfortable for YARN as it might suggest.

They need to recapture the mental strength they showed in the U17 game. It’s up to you boys. You know you can do it.

Man of the match for U16’s – For me Tyler Smith must have been a strong candidate but the ref chose Robert Mynett, who fought like a Lion whilst being under severe pressure for most of the game.

Our thanks to ref Dale Hobson, who handled this full-on encounter extremely well, despite having been “press-ganged” out of bed half an hour before kick-off, no doubt suffering the effects of the previous night.
Another example of the selfless nature of the players at this club.