On Sunday 14th September, the U13 BARUFC travelled to West Hartlepool.
James kicked off, with Luke catching the flighted ball to set up a 20m drive down the right hand side.
For the next 10 minutes both sides held the ball well, but West managed to pass the ball to one of their strongest players who outpaced the defenders, and the U13s found themselves two tries down in as many minutes.
Showing great determination Jordan, Edward and Nicholas held West’s forwards before Ben completed a try saving tackle. With this the U13s level of effort increased and James won a penalty through some excellent rucking.
This was followed by a scrum where West had the put in, but sniping around the back of the scrum, Luke snatched the ball away from his opposite number and sprinted over the line; James converted, pulling the score back to 10-7.
Bishop duly kicked off and Jordan rose to meet the ball with a perfect catch. Using his strength he managed a 20m, solo run, knocking over several players, setting up Edward, Luke and Ben who combined well.
At the start of the second half, Josh and Nicholas were working hard in the maul, with some excellent ripping from Jack, winning a penalty 15m from West’s line. A quick tap penalty from Luke set up James, who scored and converted, giving a 10:14 lead to the visitors.
Luke then saw an opportunity and nipped in for his second try. With a very narrow angle, James produced a kick out of Rob Andrew’s catalogue, taking the score to 10:21.
West then pulled the score back to 17:21. With the game evenly balanced, Luke completed an excellent run, setting Jack up for a try, pushing the score to 17:26.
Following the restart, Ben caught the ball just in front of his 22m line, he ploughed through two players along the right touch line, bursting through the defensive line to score a try, which James converted taking the winning score to 17:33 in Bishop’s favour.
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