Rishworthians v Cleckheaton v Littleborough

An excellent mornings rugby in glorious sunshine

Match report Sunday 28th September Mini Festival
After a months training Rishworthians played their first competitive games of the season. Copley was buzzing in Indian summer conditions with well over 150 mini players as Rishworthians hosted a 3 way festival with Cleckheaton and Littleborough plus Huddersfield YMCA who entered their under 12's.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros had 15 players training and learning how to play tag rugby. The squad is split into 2 groups, the new players and last years more experienced micros. Coaches Neil Lumb, Darren Grogan, Warren Doyle and Guy Laurie put them through their paces.

Under 7's The Young Guns and Under 8's
Due to the small numbers of players from both the opposition teams it was agreed to play the tournament with mixed U7's and 8's sides. Old Rishworthians were able to put out two teams with a good turnout of players.

Game 1 Rishworthians A Team 4 - 7 Cleckheaton
Try Scorers Joe Barrett 2, Corey White, Reece Barraclough

Game 2 Rishworthians A Team 3 - 4 Littleborough
Try scorers Finn Sutcliffe, Nathan Donaldson, William Harker

Both games for Team A highlighted the need for a better warm up session and a bigger emphasis to be made on tagging in games. There were signs in the second game of the players putting into practise what they had learned in training with some excellent passing moves.

Team A Tom Stott, William Harker, Corey White, Joe Barrett, Nathan Donaldson, Henry Hilton, Reece Barraclough, Finn Sutcliffe, George Wannan, Oliver Muscat-Baron, Brandon Savage

Game 1 Rishworthians B Team 4 - 6 Cleckheaton
Try Scorers Mallinson, Luke Sadler, Oliver Brian and A.N.Other

Game 2 Rishworthians B Team 4 - 3 Littleborough
Try scorers Kian Sutcliffe, Carrick Keighley-Payne, Luke Sadler and A.N.Other

A great win for team B against a Littleborough side containing a couple of very strong runners.

Team B Marcus Trevor, Luke Sadler, Kian Sutcliffe, Jack Mallinson, Reggie Herd, Carrick Keighley-Payne, Daniel Haigh, George Sutcliffe, William Adams, Oliver Brian

Team A 5 Team B 4
A good result for team A having lost both previous matches against the visitors. Overall a very enjoyable morning in which all four sides plyed some good entertaining rugby. Can I thank all the coaches and parents again for all their hard work and support and I am looking forward to our next game already.

Grahame White

Under 9's The Raiders
Old Rishworthians Under 9's played a triangular fixture against Littleborough and Cleckheaton for their first attempt at the full contact game.

Game 1 Rishworthian Raiders 3 - 5 Littleborough
The first match against Littleborough saw some great tackling from man of the match Sam Puddephatt and the always present Will Symms; some excellent running from Kallan Jamieson and hard rucking from James McHugh. Despite two tries from Jamieson and Callum Bell, Littleborough held their dominance of the game to run out 5 - 3 victors.
Man of the Match Sam Puddephatt

Game 2 Rishworthian Raiders 5 - 1 Cleckheaton
The next match against Cleckheaton saw a determined and well organised Rishworhian team with a will to win. An early try from Sam Puddephatt put Rishworthians in the lead. Strong running and awesome defending from Callum Bell and Toby Muscat Baron meant Cleckheaton were no match for the Old Rishworthian outfit. Two tries from man of the match Callum Bell, one from James McHugh and a determined try from Sam Puddephatt in the last minute of the game allowed Old Rishworthians to run out 5 - 1 Winners.
Man of the Match Callum Bell

Dave Puddephatt

Under 10's The Reds
A warm welcome from the coaches to players and parents, old and new, to Old Rishworthians u10?s, season 2008 - 2009. The season finally kicked off at a sunny Copley with teams from Cleckheaton and Littleborough pencilled in as the opponents foro the opening fixture. Unfortunately, Littleborough failed to appear ( par for the course this weekend at Copley ), so two games were arranged with Cleckheaton. Close season and early season training has been well attended with more emphasis this year on fitness and positional play. A couple of new players have joined us and along with the rest of the squad impressed the coaches with their enthusiasm and skill levels. The coaches have, hopefully, also encouraged individual talent and to have the squad play with a certain flair. But who knows, it could all go horribly wrong! Any misgivings or concerns ( yes there were some ) that may have been lurking were soon dispelled when the match kicked off, sending the watching parents in to raptures, and putting a smile on the faces of the coaches.

Game 1 Rishworthian Reds 30 - 0 Cleckheaton
If you want to impose yourselves as a team on the opposition, and show them that you are up for it, Rishworthians have their own way of showing intent. From the kick off Rishworthians adopted a set move straight from the training ground. Will McDonnell to Jacob Bower, pop pass to Jack Davis taking the ball at pace, throw in a bullocking charge through the entire opposition, wam bam, 5 - 0 after five seconds. A dream start. Tackle training this summer has obviously paid off because the Reds tackled ferociously with big hits from forwards Jonathan Wheatcroft and Jack Davis. Rucking was also impressive, and a turnover ball allowed scrum half Will McDonnell to pick up on half way and score in the corner. Another turnover from a ruck, again saw McDonnell heading for the try line only to be ankle tapped with 2 yards to go. Thomas Cockroft picked up the ball and scored the try. 15-0.

The forward line of Wheatcroft, Cockroft and Davis proved a handful in the scrum, winning against the head time and again. Continual pressure from the Reds with runs from the backs, Thomas Creasey, Thomas Sweeten, Nathan Cooper and Sam Bake kept Cleckheaton pinned in their own half. Fly half Jacob Bower had a try disallowed by the referee for a double movement, but the next try was inevitable. Will McDonnell dived over for another try, and Davis then picked up another turnover ball to score. With half time approaching the Reds won another scrum against the head, and scrum half McDonnell dummied to his fly half colleague, then sidestepped three defenders to score his hat trick try and make the half time score 30-0.

With such dominance in the match, the Reds made wholesale changes, bringing on 6 replacements. Rishies defence remained impressive with Billy Whythe, Greg Day and Lewis Hilton making strong tackles. Oliver Swales, as replacement scrum half, was busy at the breakdown, and Dan Byrnes made some good runs, but the team as a whole lacked the cutting edge that was evident in the first half, and the second half remained scoreless. Rishies winning by 30 - 0.

Game 2 Rishworthian Reds 30 - 5 Cleckheaton
If it works for you once - why not try it again. An so it was that Rishies kicked off with the same move as in the first match. This time Davis was tackled 5 yards from the line. The emerging ball was picked up by the hooker Thomas Cockroft, who was driven over the line by his mates to open the scoring. The impressive front row again won another scrum off Cleckheaton. The ball came to Jonathan Wheatcroft who used his size to batter and barge through the defence before slipping a pass to Greg Day who was hauled in to touch 5 yards out. The Reds were stealing the ball at will from scrums, rucks and mauls allowing the speedy backs to show their pace. McDonnell scored his first try of the match when he sped through a huge gap in the Cleckheaton defence. Sam Bake scored the Reds next try after a period of great defence and stealing the ball in the tackle. Half time score 15-0.

During the second half Rishies coaches rotated the replacements which may have disrupted the Reds rhythm. Cleckheaton seemed to sense this and they found a second wind and were successful in breaching the Reds defence after a free pass from 5 yards out. Rishworthian pride was hurt and they rectified matters immediately. From the kick off Sam Bake took the ball, pinned back his ears, beat the defence and scored a solo try in the corner to increase the lead to 20 - 0. Rishies were again in dominant mood with excellent tackling and rucking. From a free pass Will McDonnell set off down the right wing, defenders desperately clawing at his shirt, but his sheer pace enabled him to slip out of the tackles to score in the corner. The game was now out of sight for Cleckheaton and another try in the last few minutes from McDonnell, identical to his previous try, gave him his third of the match and his second hat trick of the morning. Another good game for the Reds winning 30-5.

Scorers Will McDonnell (3), Sam Bake (2), Thomas Cockroft.

Squad: Will McDonnell, Jacob Bower, Jack Davis, Nathan Cooper, Thomas Sweeten, Thomas Cockroft, Thomas Creasey, Lewis Hilton, Sam Bake, Greg Day, Dan Byrnes, Oliver Swales, Billy Whythe, Jonathan Wheatcroft, and Joe.

An excellent morning, with the squad impressing coaches and parents alike. All players played their part with a positive mindset, and gave the coaches a welcome insight in to the new positional play in a match day situation. The play was more structured with the players aware of their role within the team. Early days yet, but a great start to the season.

During the pre match talk, Rob asked the players to have pride in wearing the shirt. To a man they listened ( makes a welcome change) and did show pride in all they did. Because of this, the awards this week were unanimously voted for the whole under 10's squad.

Yes, I know I've rambled on a bit but I haven't had anything to write since April and once those creative juices get flowing......
Dave Mc

Under 11/12's
Littleborough were unable to field an under 12's side and we only had 4 under 11's players so Rishworthians formed an under 11/12's squad to play Cleckheaton under 11's and under 12's squads.

Game 1 Rishworthians 15 - 30 Cleckheaton U12's
The first match of the season saw some great tackling from Kyle Jamieson and Alex Ratcliffe and good running from Dylan Wannan. But Cleckheaton were well drilled and found gaps inthe Rishworthian defence to open up a 10- 0 lead before Harvey Keighley-Payne reduced the arrears on half time. The second half Cleckheaton increased their lead to 20-5 before Alex Ratcliffe powered over to keep Rishworthians in the hunt. Another brace of tries from Cleckheaton put the game beyond Rishworthians with Kyle Jamieson adding a late try just before full time. (I am not sure if Kyle scored the third try does anyone know???)

Game 2 Rishworthians 15 - 10 Cleckheaton U11's
Rishworthians second game against Cleckheaton under 11's was a close affair with the lead changing hands several times. Cleckheaton opened the scoring and minutes later Harvey Keighley-Payne collected the ball to weave pass several defenders to level the scores. Cleckheaton took the lead again and Richard Bullough powered his way over the line to tie the scores 10 - 10 at half time

The second half saw both sdes cancelling each other out until near the end Keighley-Payne broke through the Cleckheaton defence to give Rishworthians victory by the narrowest of margins.

Rishworthians v Cleckheaton Slideshow.
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Rishworthians v Keighley

Rishworthians compete well against Keighley

Match report Sunday 5th October

Despite the heavy overnight rain the river had not burst its banks allowing the pitches to drain well during the night. The sun even appeared which helped to produce a good turnout of players and parents.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Keighley only had one player in their squad at Under 7 level the rest being under 8. It was decided to keep the Rishworthian U7 and U8 teams as separate sides for the morning to give players from both teams a chance to get to know their team mates and play together. Both teams warmed up separately with the coaches putting an emphasis on defending as a line and attacking as a team.

Rishworthians 8 - 5 Keighley
What a fantastic result. Although the U8's will claim that they tired Keighley out this wasn't the case.

With some excellent work in both defence and attack the U7's didn't look like losing this one. Thomas Georgiou, Jack Mallinson and Finn Sutcliffe scored one a piece before 5 star, 5try, demolition man of the match Oliver Brian struck with an outstanding display of clinical finishing.
Man of match Oliver Brian

Squad Oliver Brian, Jack Mallinson, Thomas Georgiou, George Wannan, Reece Barraclough, Brandon Savage, Finn Sutcliffe, William Adams, Marcus Trevor

Under 8's
The under 8's took on the Keighley squad first whilst the under 7's had some extra training.

Rishworthians 5 - 5 Keighley
The pre-match coaching paid off for most of the first half with Rishworthians taking an early 4-1 lead with tries from Carrick Keighley-Payne, Corey White (2) and Tom Stott. Unfortunately this led to a lapse in concentration and the defence fell apart allowing Keighley to level the scores at 4-4. Luke Sadler gave the Rishworthians a slender 5-4 lead but this was short lived with Keighley scoring again and the game ended in a 5-5 draw.

Well done to newcomers Toby Helm and Zak Rush who were making their debut match appearances for Rishworthians.
Man of match Corey White

Squad Carrick Keighley-Payne, Corey White, Tom Stott, Joe Barrett, Reggie Herd, Luke Sadler, George Sutcliffe, Kian Sutcliffe, William Harker, Daniel Haigh, Toby Helm, Zak Rush

Thanks again to Paul Savage, Chris Georgiou and Neal Mallinson for coaching the U7's and to Lee Haigh and Andy Sadler for coaching the U8's. Once again thanks to all the parents for their support and ensuring such a good turnout of players.
Grahame White

Under 9's The Raiders
Old Rishworthians Under 9's played their second game of contact rugby as a training/practice game as they come to terms with the new contact game and in preparation for next weeks district festival. Keighley only had 4 under 9 players and made up the squad with under 10 players.

Rishworthian Raiders 2 - 6 Keighley

Keighley came out on top with a 6-2 victory. That said, the score belies what was a close fought contest against older and bigger opposition with both sides playing attacking rugby in the sunshine. The under 9's team deserved praise for not letting their heads drop in the face of a 3-0 scoreline at half time. In the second half Raiders rallied to match Keighley throughout the second half with tries from Oliver Swales and Will Symms to close on Keighley 3-2. But the visitors hit back towards the end of the game with 3 more tries.

Under 10's The Reds
After then horrendous weather on Saturday it was a pleasant surprise to see Copley bathed in autumn sunshine and the pitch in perfect condition. Sundays opponents this week were Keighley, who only managed to bring 8 under 10 players, so in the true spirit of Old Rishworthians, new signing Joe Sutcliffe agreed to be a Keighley player for the fixture.

Rishworthian Reds 40 - 20 Keighley
In last weeks match report I stated that if it works once, try it again. So we tried it again this week. At the kick off Rishworthians gave the ball to Jack Davis who barged his way through the Keighley defence to open the scoring after only a few seconds. This seemed to stun the opposition, and a minute later, after a series of thumping tackles from George Radcliffe and Jonathan Wheatcroft, their day became worse, as the ball was turned over in a ruck and picked up by scrum half Will McDonnell who cantered in unopposed for the second try.

Rishworthians at West District and Sandal Festivals

Good Results at Festivals for Rishworthians

Match report Sunday 12th October
The first festival weekend of the season saw the minis spread all over Yorkshire. The under 7's and 8's were at the Sandal Festival both teams competing well. The under 9's travelled to Wharfedale and as yet have no results. The under 10's travelled to Ilkley and reached the final only to be beaten by local rivals Brodleians. The under 11/12's trained as mixing age groups is not allowed at these age groups.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros aain had good numbers training and learning how to play tag rugby. The squad is split into 2 groups, the new players and last years more experienced micros. Coaches Neil Lumb, Darren Grogan, Warren Doyle and Guy Laurie put them through their paces.

Under 7's The Young Guns
The Old Rishworthians under 7's played in the Sandal Tournament. Unfortunately Old Rishworthians missed out on a final place but they played good entertaining rugby, in lovely conditions.

Rishworthians 3 - 4 Otley
Their first game was against eventual winners, Otley, with Rishworthians narrowly losing out in a closely contested game 4-3, with Jack Mallinson (2) and Thomas Georgiou scoring a good try. Great performance against a strong Yorkshire mini section.

Rishworthians 5 - 0 Brodleians
The second game was against local side Old Brodleians. The final score being 5-0 in Old Rishworthians favour, with Oliver Brian scoring a hat trick of fantastic long range try's.

Rishworthians 5 - 4 Sandal
The next game against Sandal was a close encounter. Some strong running by Finn Sutcliffe and excellent tagging by Marcus Trevor sealed a good 5-4 victory.

Rishworthians 6 - 6 West Park Leeds
The last match of the day was against West Park Leeds. The Old Rishworthians players by this point were passing the ball at ease, and scoring good try's, with plenty of inter passing. The final score was a respectful 6-6 in a thrilling match.

The try scorers of the day were Oliver Brian (8), Jack Mallinson (6), Tom Georgiou (4), and Finn Sutcliffe (1).

Under 8's
Nine players turned out on a glorious day to enjoy playing rugby at the Sandal Festival. With six teams in each of the two U8 leagues and the three pitches being shared between U7's and 8's there was lots of waiting around between games and 4 hours between matches starting and finishing. A long day all round. Thanks to the parents again for all their support and to the players for behaving so well and being incredibly patient. Finally thanks to Lee Haigh, Andy Sadler and Simon Donaldson for coaching the team so well throughout the tournament.

Rishworthians 3 - 4 west Park Leeds
WPL scored first before tries from Nathan Donalsdon and William Harker gave Rish a 2-1 lead. WPL then had the upper hand and took a 4-2 lead although Barnes-Wallace would have been proud of the fourth 'try'. Tom Stott scored a third giving Rish an outside shance of a draw but this wasn't to be.

Rishworthians 7 - 6 Sandal
What a result. The game literally went end to end with each side scoring alternately. Corey White scored the opening try and further scores from Nathan Donaldson 3, William Harker and Tom Stott leaving the score at 6-6. Kian Surcliffe then ran in a seventh try leaving Rish to defend the last set of plays to win the game. For once every player put in a superb defensive effort and Rish were able to complete seven tags, get the ball back and win the game. A great defensive effort.

Rishworthians 4 - 4 Driffield
This was a game Rishworthians could have lost after taking a 3-2 lead with scores from Carrick Keighley-Payne and Nathan Donaldson 2. Some careless errors then allowed Driffield to score twice and take a 4-3 lead. However Nathan Donaldson completed his second hat-trick of the morning to give Rish a 4-4 draw.

Rishworthians 0 - 7 Moseley
Beaten by a superb defence causing Rish to make a hatful of errors which were brutally punished.

Rishworthians 3 - 2 Rotherham
Another close run game with the sides again scoring alternately, with Rish scoring the all important first try of the game through Nathan Donaldson. William Harker and Carrick Keighley-Payne completed the scoring to end the tournament on a positive note.

Man of the morning Nathan Donaldson
Effort award Joe Barrett

Squad : Kian Sutcliffe, Luke Sadler, Corey White, Joe Barrett, Nathan Donaldson, Tom Stott, Daniel Haigh, Carrick Keighley-Payne, William Harker

Under 9's The Raiders
The Old Rishworthians under 9's played their first contact rugby festival at Wharfedale. They had to win their last pool game to progress but were up against a good Rochdale side. Overall the U9s are improving fast, the inclusion of some U10s ( thanks lads ! ) helped show the U9s especially in the rucks.

Rishworthians C - C ??
Their first game was cancelled due to the team not turning up.

Wharfedale 1 - 0 Rishworthians
Promising start with some solid defence, unfortunately conceding a try from a defensive error rather than Wharfedale managing to break through. Game marred by some poor refereeing decisions, during one passage of play the Rishes defence pushed Wharfedale back almost to their own try line with some aggressive tackling and counter rucking only to have a scrum awarded againts them !

Bradford & Bingley 0 - 2 Rishworthians
Rishes remember how to attack ! Alex Scoley receives a quick pass from a ruck and sprints for the corner - just as it looks like hes about to be buried by two covering defenders he executes a neat little side step to score. The second half was very tight with neither side able to create much until Kallan Jamieson suddenly breaks down the left wing, wrong foots the last defender and scores in the corner.

Rochdale 5 - 1 Rishworthians
Needing to win the last game to have a chance of progressing, Rish start brightly but have no answer to a bigger, more physical team. Rochdale managing to break the first tackles with bigger forwards and scoring frequently. Rishes grab a late try when Oliver Swales makes a break and passes to Callum Bell to score.

Squad :William Symms, Sam Puddephatt, Callum Bell, James McHugh, Alex Scoley, Kallan Jamieson, Ben Riley, William Hilton, Oliver Swales, Lewis Hilton ,Dan Byrnes

Man of the Match Award went to Oliver Swales for some excellent aggressive running and solid work in the breakdownsOliver for some excellent aggressive running and solid work in the breakdowns

Under 10's The Reds
Old Rishworthians didn't partake in the District Cup last year, so it was new territory that the Reds ventured in to on Sunday at Ilkley RUFC. Old Rishworthians were placed in the strongest of the 2 pools along with Wharfedale, Cleckheaton, Skipton and Ilkley. The Reds would have to be on the top of their game to progress to the final. But the coaches were quietly confident.

Rishworthian Reds 20 - 0 Wharfedale
The first game was against "The Green Machine" from Wharfedale. A drive from the kick off by big forward Jonathan Wheatcroft gained 20 yards before been tackled. From the ruck, scrum half Will McDonnell, picked up and sprinted to open the scoring. The front row of Billy Whythe, Thomas Cockroft and Jonathan Wheatcroft won a scrum against the head deep in Wharfedale territory. Will McDonnell again picked up and dived over the line to double the lead. Determined tackling by Sam Bake and Jacob Bower brought turnover ball time and again. Another scrum against the head in the Reds half saw the ball being passed to Thomas Sweeten who crashed through 2 defenders and then sprinted away to make the score 15-0. Excellent tackling and rucking by the Reds kept the Green Machine at bay and a further turnover ball allowed Will McDonnell to show his pace down the wing to score his hat trick try in the corner and to post a convincing victory of 20-0. A very convincing win and a platform laid down for the rest of the tournament.

Rishworthian Reds 20 - 0 Cleckheaton
The second game began as the previous one with Rishies putting pressure on the Cleck defence, which was rewarded with a try. Nathan Cooper was given the ball on half way and headed for the try line, only to be hauled down with 2 yards to go. Thomas Cockroft, who was backing up, picked up and dived through a melee of players to score. The Reds rucking continued to impress and quick recycled ball allowed Will McDonnell the time to give good ball to centre Thomas Sweeten who had an easy run in for a 10-0 lead. Cleckheaton couldn't cope with the fierce determination and application shown by the Reds. Forwards Charlotte Siddall, Greg Day and George Radcliffe were fine examples of forward power in the rucks, knocking back the Cleckheaton players in every phase. Will McDonnell scored two further tries from such dominance in the ruck, his last, a dive over the line with two defenders on his back. Final score 20-0.

Rishworthian Reds 10 - 10 Ilkley
This first meeting between these two teams was a game to forget for Old Rishworthians. All the good, positive aspects of the first two games fell away in this match. Though the Reds took the lead when Thomas Sweeten scored from the result of a stolen ball, their tackling was suddenly absent without leave, and the rucking game was less than effective. Ilkley were given to much time with ball in hand and took advantage of the Reds unusually poor tackling, and the pressure paid off. Ilkley were initially held up over the try line and forced back by the Reds, but the ball was recycled and the try scored. The Reds came back in to the game, briefly, with a good try. From a penalty, Jacob Bower passed to Will McDonnell, who gained ground, and then laid off a pop pass in the tackle back to Jacob Bower who stormed in from 5 yards out to retake the lead. The Reds tackling didn?t improve as the game went on and Ilkley were able to score again to make the final score 10-10. You would have thought that Ilkley had won the festival from the jubilation that came at the end of game from the players and supporters. It just shows what respect teams have for this Reds team when a draw for them is a good result.

Rishworthian Reds 5 - 0 Skipton
Even though Rishies had secured two wins and a draw, other teams in the pool had been taking points off each other, and this final pool game was a must win game if the Reds were to reach the final. With a flea in their ears from the coaches the Reds appeared to be focused on the game again. Another long range run from Will McDonnell down the wing was ended when he was dragged in to touch. Other probing runs from Thomas Creasey and Jacob Bower were also halted with strong tackling from Skipton. With a mounting penalty count on both sides and good tackling from both sets of players, this was never going to be a high scoring game. The Reds did however take the lead after phases of pressure brought them close to the Skipton line. Another penalty conceded by Skipton gave the opportunity for Jonathan Wheatcroft to take the crash ball and power his way over the try line. Another try would surely secure the game and it appeared on the cards when another stolen ball in the ruck sent Thomas Sweeten towards the try line again, only to be hauled in to touch. The Reds kept their heads, played good rugby, and held on for the win by 5-0, to the obvious relief of coaches and parents.

The Final Rishworthian Reds 5 - 15 Brodleians
When the pools were given out in the morning this final between Old Rishworthians and Old Brods was always on the cards. Brods had eased through their pool, scoring lots of tries in the process. The Reds were at a disadvantage, having just played their final pool match and then straight in to the final, whereas Brods had completed their pool matches 20 minutes earlier. The game started with both teams trying to impose themselves in the forwards but a combination of strong tackling and good rucking by both teams cancelled each other out. Darting runs from both sets of backs were coming thick and fast. The first proper break came from the Reds, when scrum half Will McDonnell, took the ball from the scrum in his own half and set off like a gazelle down the right touchline, putting distance between himself and the chasers. A guaranteed score for the Reds seemed imminent! Running across the pitch came a Brods player in intercept mode. He hit Will with a superbly executed try saving tackle banging him in to touch. This brought an applause of appreciation for both players from both sets of supporters. The roles were quickly reversed when Sam Bake was called upon to make a try saving tackle of his own at the other end of the pitch. The deadlock was finally broken, when, from a lineout ball near to the Reds try line, Will McDonnell jinked around two Brods players, shrugged out of a tackle, put the hammer down, and sprinted the length of the pitch to score. They couldn?t catch him this time.

The second half belonged to Old Brods. They soon levelled the score through their speedy back row. A long day in the field was now beginning to show, with tired legs on some of the Reds players, which meant tackles were being missed, and Brods began to gain more possession. They took the lead through a breakaway try, and the same player scored again through another breakaway in the dying seconds to secure the win for Brods 15-5.

Scorers: Will McDonnell (6), Thomas Sweeten (3), Jonathan Wheatcroft , Thomas Cockroft, Jacob Bower

Player of the tournament was Will McDonnell
Effort award went to George Radcliffe.

Squad: Billy Whythe, Thomas Cockroft, Jonathan Wheatcroft, George Radcliffe, Charlotte Siddall, Greg Day,
Will McDonnell, Jacob Bower, Thomas Creasey, Thomas Sweeten, Sam Bake, Nathan Cooper.

At the end of the game the players were distraught and the tears flowed. The score line did flatter Brods. The Reds played their hearts out to the end, and for most of the game, matched their opponents in every aspect. They showed great depth of character, camaraderie and respect, and can be very proud of the way they performed throughout the tournament and they rightly deserved the applause given to them by coaches and parents.

We also received encouraging comments from other coaches around the ground, and from the Yorkshire RFU development officer ( he refereed the final), who was very impressed by the standard of play that he had seen and hoped to be selecting some of our players at trials in the future.

Huddersfield v Rishworthians

Great mornings rugby despite the conditions

Match report Sunday 26th October
Despite the heavy overnight rain and half term Rishworthians were able to compete well against Huddersfield.

Under 6's The Micros
Despite the poor weather and half term the micros had 12 players training and learning how to play tag rugby. The squad is split into 2 groups, the new players and last years more experienced micros. Coaches Neil Lumb, Darren Grogan, Warren Doyle and Guy Laurie put them through their paces.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Honours even with Huddersfield and Rishworthians winning a game each. Excellent running and handling despite the poor conditions. Isaac Burbidge also moved up from the micros to make his debut fr the under 7's.

Game 1 Rishworthians 4 - 8 Huddersfield
Flying Finn Sutcliffe ran in all four tries as Rshworthians chased Huddersfield all the way. But towards the end of the game Huddersfield pulled away with late tries to run out winners.

Game 2 Rishworthians 8 - 2 Huddersfield
Rishworthians gained revenge for he earlier defeat with scores from Tom Georgieou 2, Jack Mallinson 2, Brandon Savage and another hat trick from flying Finn

Man of match Finn Sutcliffe

Under 8's
For once Rishworthians U8's struggled to get a full side out with several people away on holiday. However the six players on duty played some excellent rugby and were a credit to themselves and the club. Huddersfield managed to put out two sides despite the very wet conditions and the fact it was half term.

Game 1 Rishworthians 5 - 5 Huddersfield
Both sides played some very good rugby despite the difficult handling conditions. Man of the match Nathan Donaldson again showed his powerful running skills bagging himself a hat trick of tries with other scores coming from Tom Stott and Corey White. Rishworthians should have won the game 5-4 but a silly error handed the ball to the Huddersfield side that levelled the scores with the last play of the game.
Man of match Nathan Donaldson

Game 2 Rishworthians 8 - 3 Huddersfield
A first half hat trick from the running machine Nathan Donaldson and a try apiece from Joe Barrett and Tom Stott gave Rishworthians a healthy 5-1 half time lead. Having opened the scoring in the first half, man of the match Joe Barrett again showed his improving form with another fine run to score the first Rishworthians try in the second half. Tom Stott and Nathan Donaldson completed the scoring.
Man of match Joe Barrett

The effort award wasn't given to any individual player as the morning had all been about working together as a team. All the players deserved the award.

Squad Nathan Donaldson, Joe Barrett, Tom Stott, Kian Sutcliffe, Corey White, Carrick Keighley-Payne

Under 9's The Raiders
The Raiders struggled on a very wet pitch and only 6 players turned up

Old Rishworthians Raiders 1 -5 Huddersfield
It was a horrible rainy morning in Huddersfield, the pitch was under water and we only had six players. Things were not looking good. Huddersfield lent us some players so we could field a team but the raiders never really got going, conditions were bad and Rish struggled to achieve any continuity, Huddersfield were keener and better organised. All Rish could do was battle and defend well. The only Rishes try was scored by one of Huddersfield lads playing for us.

Squad : William Symms, Sam Puddephatt, Callum Bell, James McHugh, Ben Riley, James Senneck.

Under 10's The Reds
Old Rishworthians trip to Huddersfield was filled with trepidation after heavy overnight rain usually means that the pitches at Lockwood turn in to Lake Windermere. We were not disappointed, with standing water everywhere, but the players were not fazed by this, as they soon began jumping in the deepest puddles that they could find. To compound it all, just as we kicked off, it began to rain.

Huddersfield 5 - 35 Rishworthian Reds
Previous meetings between these two teams have usually been tight affairs with the winning margin being, at the most, 2 tries.

The game began at a decent pace with good strong rucking from the pack of Jonathan Wheatcroft, Greg Day and Lewis Hilton, giving good ball for scrum half Will McDonnell to feed the back line. Probing runs from the likes of Thomas Sweeten, Jacob Bower and Harry Crabtree, making his debut, were repelled by a well drilled Huddersfield team who tackled well. Each team tried to break free but cancelled each other out. Penalties became a problem for the Reds with Jonathan Wheatcroft being penalised by the keen referee for frequently coming in from the side. Huddersfield broke the deadlock and took the lead after pressure from the home team forced the Reds back in to their in goal area where the ball was spilled and the Huddersfield forward pounced on the loose ball to score.

Huddersfield sensed that this was their game and they upped the tempo. Big hits from Will McDonnell, Sam Bake and Jack Davis bundled Huddersfield in to touch and the Reds found motivation and switched on. They began to move the ball through hands and even though it was wet the handling was impressive. At the breakdown George Radcliffe and Billy Whythe worked hard clearing out in the ruck, and the game slowly began to swing the Reds way. The hard work was rewarded with a penalty 10 yards from the Huddersfield try line. The ball was given to Jack 'Rhino' Davis who, as his nickname suggests, charged at the Huddersfield defence head on and bashed his way over the line to level the score. A second penalty came again soon after in the same position, and Davis took the ball again and scored an identical try to give the Reds a 10-5 half time lead.

Half time Huddersfield 5 - 10 Rishworthians

In the second half the Reds began to dominate, with aggressive tackling from Sam Bake, Tom Sweeten and Oliver Swales, tight scrimmaging from Greg Day, Jonathan Wheatcroft and Lewis Hilton, and quick distribution from scrum half Will McDonnell, Jacob Bower, Dan Byrne and Harry Crabtree. From a throw in 5 yards from the Reds try line, Jack Davis was fed the ball and barged his way through 5 defenders gaining 30 yards before being stopped. His pop pass to big Jonathan Wheatcroft continued the move and he managed to drag 3 players towards the try line where he dropped over to stretch the lead to 15-5.

Double tackles on the Huddersfield players made unforced errors and the Reds took advantage as the Huddersfield players heads dropped. From a scrum, Will McDonnell jinked around two players on the blind side and scored from 10 yards. The next try soon followed when Sam Bake found a gap between 2 players in midfield and sprinted away to score. He appeared to have scored another perfectly good try a minute later, only to be brought back by the referee and penalised for a hand off prior to scoring. Will McDonnell scored his second try after he was passed the ball at a line out on half way. He swerved and twisted his way passed most of the Huddersfield team and finished off with a swan dive in to the corner. The final play of the game went to Rishies, with Jonathan Wheatcroft picking up from a ruck and, without a hand or fend off, powered his way through the defence and planted the ball over the line. The Reds winning the game impressively 35-5.

Scorers: Will McDonnell (2), Jack Davis (2), Jonathan Wheatcroft (2), Sam Bake.
Squad: Jonathan Wheatcroft, George Radcliffe, Billy Whythe, Greg Day, Lewis Hilton, Oliver Swales, Sam Bake, Thomas Sweeten, Jacob Bower, Will McDonnell, Dan Byrne, Jack Davis, Harry Crabtree.

Man of the match Thomas Sweeten
Effort award Sam Bake

The Huddersfield team were gutted at losing this match because they honestly believed that they would win. After a slow start they were comprehensively beaten by a Reds team that have finally taken on board all the training that has been done recently in making them pass the ball. (Cheers from the coaches). When you think that they would never quite get it, they produced a superb display of passing, running rugby with some parents claiming that it was the best display of the season so far. I won't disagree with that.

Under 11/12's
A mixed squad of under 11 and under 12 played a good Huddersfield under 12 side.

Game 1 Huddersfield 30 - 0 Rishworthians
Huddersfield dominated he first half to take a 25 - 0 lead. The second half was more evenly balanced only allowing Huddersfield to score the one try. The score doesn't really reflect the match though as all the guys played really well but just let the Huddersfield fast runners through to score, they did some really good tackling and defending and we nearly scored a couple of times but were stopped at the last yard.

The Man of the Match was awarded to Harry Hollingsworth
The effort award went to Edward Denham.

Click here to view Huddersfield website

Rishworthians & Bradford/Bingley at Brodleians

Rishworthians perform well at Brodleians

Match report Sunday 2nd November 3 way Mini Festival
A very chilly and breezy autumnal morning welcomed Old Rishworthians to Woodhead for a 3 way mini festival with Old Brodleians and Bradford & Bingley. The best performance came from the under 7's who won all their games and the under 10's Reds who avenged the defeat in the District Cup final 3 weeks ago. The under 8's also had a good morning winning 2 games and narrowly losing the third

Under 6's The Micros
The micros had 15 players training and learning how to play tag rugby. The squad is split into 2 groups, the new players and last years more experienced micros. Coaches Neil Lumb, Darren Grogan, Warren Doyle and Guy Laurie put them through their paces.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Rishworthians under 7's, Brodleians and Bradford & Bingley (Bees) enjoyed a great morning's rugby.

Game 1 Rishworthians 7 - 3 Brodleians A
Rishworthians beat Brods A team 7-3, with Rishworthians playing fine rugby. Jack Mallinson ran in 3 first half tries, with Will Adams and Tom Georgiou scoring 1 a piece to give a hallf time lead 5 - 2. In the second half Jack Mallinson scored a further 2 tries in the second half.

Game 2 Rishworthians 7 - 4 Brodleians B
Rishworthians won the second game against Brods B Team 7-4. with Jack Mallinson scoring 4 tries, Tom Georgiou scoring 2, and Henry Hilton scoring 1. A great team performance, with plenty of tagging.

Game 3 Rishworthians 8 - 6 Bradford and Bingley
The final game was against Bradford & Bingley (The Bees), and was a more evenly matched game, but still saw Rishworthians defeating the opposition with an 8-6 victory. Man of the day Jack Mallinson scoring 13 tries overall achieved a further 4 in this game, with Tom Georgiou scoring a further 2 taking his days tally to 5, and further tries from Reece Barraclough, and Will Adams

Squad: George Wannan, Henry Hilton, Brandon Savage, Isaac Burbidge, Reece Barraclough, Will Adams, Jack Mallinson, Tom Georgiou, Marcus Trevor

Under 8's
Old Brods had strength in numbers fielding two sides on a very cold morning.

Game 1 Rishworthians 7 - 8 Brodleians A
Despite all the tackling practice before kickoff Rish struggled to tag the smaller Old Brods side. Rishworthians were down 2-0 very early on before Corey White scored for Rishworthians. Both sides then scored five tries to leave the score at 6-7. Corey White and Nathan Donaldson scored two apiece with Carrick Keighley-Payne adding the other. Corey White then rounded off a man of the match winning performance with his fourth try to level the game at 7-7. Old Brods then took an 8-7 lead before a dubious refereeing decision by the Rishworth ref prevented a final try being scored by Rishworthians.
Man of match Corey White

Game 2 Rishworthians 8 - 6 Brodleians B
Rishworthians played much better in this game and should have run out much more comfortable winners. However too many careless errors gave the ball back to the Old Brods side who never gave in. Two tries apiece for Carrick Keighley-Payne and Corey White and a score from Luke Sadler gave Rishworthians a 5-3 half-time lead. George Sutcliffe opened the scoring in the second half to stretch the lead further to 6-3. Again Brods came back with two tries to trail by a point at 6-5. Corey White then bagged another couple of tries with one in reply from Old Brods giving Rishworthians an 8-6 win.
Man of match Corey White

Game 3 Rishworthians 6 - 3 Bradford and Bingley
Both sides struggled in the cold to keep hold of the ball. Rishworthians never looked like losing the game with tries coming from Nathan Donaldson 2, Carrick Keighley-Payne and a hat-trick from Luke Sadler which earned him man of the match.
Man of match Luke Sadler

Again this week it was all about a team performance and again all the players deserved the effort award in each game. Thanks again to Simon Donaldson for taking charge of the team on the pitch and to Lee Haigh for his support and help on the touchline. Thanks also to the parents for their continued support.
Grahame White

Under 9's The Raiders
Despite the three way fixture being at Old Brodleians, the home side couldn't raise a team so we agreed to play four 10 minute quarters against Bees. The morning was bright and a pleasant change from last week's sub aqua rugby - with a full team we held a quick practice and were looking forward to good match.

Game 1 Rishworthians 5 - 7 Bradford and Bingley
Quarter 1: 2 - 2
A fiercely contested start with neither side gaining much headway for the first few minutes until Bees managed to get one of their big lads into space and he broke free to score. From the restart Sam Puddephatt had a run, the first tackle was missed, then the second Sam saw his chance and stormed though for a try. Bees replied with a try, but Rish managed to give Kallan Jameison the ball on the left wing and he sprinted home to level the quarter.

Quarter2: 2 - 0
Bees started the quarter strongly but Rish soon responded, solid defence was turned into attack when Callum Bell ripped the ball from a Bees player close on his own try line then ran the length of the pitch for a try. Then in a repeat of his first try Kallan Jameison again found some space on the left wing and streaked home.

Quarter3: 1 - 0
Toby had to leave so Bees sportingly lent us a player. The quarter was very tight with few opportunities for either side until Kallan Jameison again found some space on his favourite left wing and sneaked in right in the corner. It could have been 2-0 when Callum Bell broke a tackle, beat the last man and was running free towards the try line but was tripped by a pursuing Bees player - Rish were unlucky to only get a free pass rather than a penalty try.

Quarter4: 0 - 5
The raiders were tiring, but going into the last quarter leading 5 - 2 were hopeful of victory. Unfortunately the Bees greater numbers told on the Raiders waning strength. Despite desperate defence, fresh Bees subs stretched Rish and cracks appeared in the line, allowing Bees to score five times without response.

Despite the loss, a very good morning'ss rugby. Kallan exploiting the tiniest spaces to break, Ben Riley really getting stuck in with a lot of hard work in the breakdowns, James Senneck starting to click at scrum half recycling the ball well. But man of the match went to James McHugh for his tireless work in the rucks and mauls and for a very impressive tackling performance.

Paul Bell

Under 10's The Reds
A very chilly and breezy autumnal morning welcomed Old Rishworthians to Woodhead for a 3 way mini festival with Old Brodleians and Bradford & Bingley. With a full turn out the 10's were able to field 2 teams the Reds and the All Blacks.

Game 1 Rishworthian Reds 15 - 5 Brodleians A.
The first game matched The Reds against the Brods first team, and the Rishies youngsters needed no greater incentive to win than to avenge the defeat in the District Cup final 3 weeks ago. From the kick off The Reds posted their intent with a powerful run from Jack Davis, bouncing off defenders until he was bundled in to touch 5 yards from the Brods try line. Strong tackling from the forward line of Jonathan Wheatcroft, George Radcliffe and Thomas Cockroft kept the Brods pinned back on their own line, and when the ball did go wide The Reds back line did their bit with double tackles from Jack Davis, Jacob Bower and Thomas Sweeten which stopped the quick Brods backs from showing their running game.

Good rucking and recycled ball gave scrum half Will McDonnell time to distribute the ball effectively out to Sam Bake and Thomas Creasy on the wings. The Reds dominated the opening exchanges and were camped in the Brods half. The constant pressure did eventually pay off. Probing runs from McDonnell, Davis and Bower gained yardage and brought play to the Brods try line where Radcliffe managed to squeeze over and score the opening try. Brods came back at The Reds and managed to release one of their speedsters, but he was forced out wide and banged in to touch with a massive hit from Bower. The Reds increased their lead through a tried and tested move. From a penalty Jonathan Wheatcroft crashed over from 10 yards out to make the half time score 10-0.

Despite playing up the slope, Old Rishworthians maintained control in the second half with Radcliffe and Cockroft ripping the ball in mauls. From half way Thomas Sweeten broke free and slipped a pass out to Sam Bake on the wing. He was tackled short of the line, but from the ruck, Bower picked up and dived through a crowd of players to give The Reds a more comfortable 15-0 lead.

A further try seemed on the cards when Sweeten broke free again. With no defence in front of him he set off, only to be brought down with a well timed ankle tap from a Brods winger. Brods still tried to play their passing game but excellent sliding defence from The Reds covered every move. The Old Rishworthians tackling was constant, ferocious and determined, exemplified by a shuddering tackle by Davis and Wheatcroft on a Brods forward that left him flat on his back and the whole crowd taking a sharp intake of breath. Old Brods did manage a consolation try in the final seconds when they sneaked over next to the corner flag to make the final score 15-5 to The Reds.

Game 2 Rishworthian Reds 60 - 0 Bradford and Bingley
After the win over Brods, The Reds were still pumped up and raring to go again. Bradford & Bingley felt the full force of this rampant Reds team and were overwhelmed by a 12 try scoring spree. After early pressure The Reds were soon on the score sheet with a try from Thomas Creasy scampering over from the wing. Tackling was still intense and Will McDonnell made a big hit on a Bees forward twice his size and put him in to touch. The second try was inevitable, and when Thomas Sweeten picked up the ball on half way he outpaced the defence to score.

Scrum half Will McDonnell then scored two quick tries. His first came from a ruck when he trotted over the line. His second involved one side step, through a gap, and a sprint from half way. Scores were now coming thick and fast. Thomas Sweeten gave a sweet pass to Sam Bake, backing up at pace, who ran 40 yards to score. Just before half time Jacob Bower shrugged off a couple of defenders before making the score 30-0. The Bees had no answer to the Reds superiority and a big hard tackle from Jonathan Wheatcroft caused the ball to be spilled, which was picked up by Thomas Cockroft who continued the scoring. Another scrum against the head by Wheatcroft, Radcliffe and Cockroft, allowed McDonnell to feed Bake who ran in again from inside his own half. Will McDonnell scored his hat trick try from a scrum when he side stepped 3 Bees players to score a trademark try in the corner.

The Bees never looked like scoring, due to excellent rucking, mauling and tackling from The Reds. Five phases of textbook rucking and recycling brought play to within reach of the Bees try line. Bower picked up and dived over the line, giving The Reds a 50-0 lead. A Bees fumble in the middle of the park gave Rishies turnover ball and Bower picked up the loose ball and ran in for his third try. The Reds had the final say of the game when McDonnell set off again from half way, and with the try line at his mercy, he selflessly passed to Bake on his outside shoulder, who gratefully ran in to score Rishies twelfth, and his own, hat trick try. Rishies running out convincing 60-0 winners.

Team: Jonathan Wheatcroft, Thomas Cockroft, George Radcliffe, Will McDonnell, Jacob Bower, Jack Davis, Thomas Sweeten, Thomas Creasy, Sam Bake.

Man of the match and effort awards given to the whole team for an outstanding team effort through both matches.

What a morning!! Last week at Huddersfield was our best display so far this season, but the display against Brods totally eclipsed that game. I could use many superlatives to describe the win against our derby rivals, but I will use only one awesome. It is difficult to find any faults in the way the team went about their work. The team played just as that a team. They supported each other in defence and attack, were well disciplined and played to the match tactics. (Yes, there were some, honest.) It was good to see that they show confidence in their own ability and that of their team mates. They are now displaying decision making at vital times without sideline prompting. Both games were a joy to watch and it is nice to see that all the effort that the squad put in to training is paying off with dividends. That, and the fact that we beat our derby rivals, had the coaches purring in the bar afterwards whilst downing that celebration pint.
Dave Mc

Game 3 Rishworthian All Blacks 5 - 35 Bradford and Bingley
The All Blacks began the day against a Bees side boosted by a couple of Brods players. Winning the toss, Bees began by playing down the hill and the tactic seemed to work well. The Bees linked well and showed greater initiative at the break down. Quick rucking allowed them to secure more ball and, despite firm tackling from Rishies, set up an early lead. The wall of defence did hold back Bees - in particular Nathan Cooper and Ollie Swales put in fearsome tackles. However Bees gelled very well, recycling the ball again and again to keep their moves going.

Into the second half the Blacks now had the slope, but they also faced a dedicated Bees team performance. Ollie Swales and Harry Crabtree sniped away and eventually Oliver Swales made his way across for a deserved try. Last try went to the Bees and brought the final score to Rishies 5 Bees 35.

Game 4 Rishworthian All Blacks 10 - 35 Brodleians B
The Rishies All Blacks took on Old Brods B after learning a few lessons from their previous game with the Bees.

After a shaky start Rishes All Blacks began to grow in confidence and after an early infringement from Brods, Joe Sutcliffe set off at speed from his own half to round the opposition defence and score a well deserved first try for the club. Brods bruised by the Rishies try stepped up a gear and began to make ground into the Rishworthian half but the All Blacks stood firm in defence lead by Lewis Hilton, Oliver Swales and Nathan Cooper. Charlotte Siddal was in the thick of things as usual and after some excellent rucking she took a knock and was temporarily replaced by big Jonny 'The Dump Truck' Wheatcroft. He immediately made his presence felt from a penalty move 7m from the Brod's line as Wheatcroft took the ball at pace to crash over for the All Blacks second try. Again Brods were spurred into action and it took more great defensive work by Cooper, Byrnes and Day to ensure Rishies went into half time 10 - 0 up.

The second half began with Brods quickly working their way deep into the All Black's half with some strong play and despite a couple of thunderous tackles by Swales and Cooper they managed to cross the white wash for the first time. The All Blacks now playing up the hill were a split second slower to the break down and this helped Brods gain an upper hand in the rucks which was making life difficult for the All Black's scum half Oliver Swales to feed the ball out to his backs. The continued pressure from Brods started to pay dividends and they engineered a try out wide to bring the score to 10 points each. Rishies were still winning good ball in the scrum through Day, Whythe and Hilton and more strong running from Joe and Nathan took the All Blacks back into Brod's territory but with no reward, the dominance of Brods in the rucks snuffed out the All Blacks attacks and it was in one such ruck where Rishies lost the ball and Brods raced from just inside their half to score, putting them in front for the first time in the game. The all Blacks had to defend for long periods and the hard work and effort they were putting in to their defence meant that Brods running down the hill were able to take advantage of some tired legs and ran in a further three tries, the final score 35-10 to Brods.

Well done to all Rishies All Blacks who played some great rugby and never gave up.
Man of Match - Lewis Hilton Best Tackle - Oliver Swales Effort - Joe Sutcliffe

Team: Gregory Day, Lewis Hilton, Billy Whyte, Ollie Swales, Nathan Cooper, Joseph Sutcliffe, Charlotte Siddall, Dan Byrnes, Harry Crabtree

Under 11/12's
We didn't play either Brods or Bradford for some reason.

Game 1 Rishworthians 0 - 40 West Park Leeds
West Park agreed to play us, after the boys had hung around in the cold for ages us but we lost 8-0. They all played well again considering they were frozen before they started!

Man of the Match : Jack Bruce
Effort Award : Harry Hollingsworth

Click here to view Brodleians website
Click here to view Bradford and Bingley website

Rishworthians v Baildon

Great mornings rugby despite the muddy conditions

Match report Sunday 9th November
Despite the heavy overnight rain and sticky pitch Rishworthians performed well against Baildon. The coaches had to shuffle squads and players around to ensure everyone played. Baildon had no u8's or under 10's and we had a combined under 11/12's. The 7's played well against a Baildon mixed u7/8's. The under 10's beat the u11's and the under 11/12's lost to Baildon u12's but beat their under 11's.

Under 6's The Micros
Despite the poor weather the micros had 12 players training and learning how to play tag rugby. The squad is split into 2 groups, the new players and last years more experienced micros. Coaches Neil Lumb, Darren Grogan, Warren Doyle and Guy Laurie put them through their paces.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Rishworthians under 7's, entertained a Baildon mixed under 7's and 8's Team. The game was played in 4 quarters to enable Baildon subs to be exchanged.

Rishworthians 13 - 8 Baildon

1st Qtr Rishworthians 2 - 3 Baildon
Rishworthians got off to a shaky start, seeing Baildon win the first quarter, 3 - 2, with Finn Sutcliffe scoring the first try, and Henry Hilton scoring the second.

2nd Qtr Rishworthians 4 - 0 Baildon
After a team talk the second quarter was an easy victory, 4 - 0 to Rishworthians, who then got into their stride, seeing try's from Finn Sutcliffe (2), Jack Mallinson (1) and Brandon Savage (1).

3rd Qtr Rishworthians 3 - 2 Baildon
The third quarter was more evenly matched as Rishworthians started to tire, they still won the quarter however 3 - 2, with excellent tagging throughout. Flying Finn Sutcliffe was on form today, scoring a further 2 try's in this quarter, backed up by Jack Mallinson with 1 try.

4th Qtr Rishworthians 4 - 3 Baildon
Rishworthians defended the best they have all season, winning the 4th quarter 4 - 3 which sealed the victory. Jack Mallinson scoring 2 try's, Finn Sutcliffe and Reece Barraclough scoring 1 each.

Man of the Match was awarded to Finn Sutcliffe, for his brilliant defending & try scoring.

Squad Finn Sutcliffe, Reece Barraclough, Henry Hilton, Jack Mallinson, Brandon Savage

Joanne Mallinson

Under 8's The Destroyers
Baildon only travelled with a couple of under 8's so the u7's entertained them and the under 8's trained.

Under 9's The Raiders
The raiders were short of players but some of the younger under 10's made up the squad.

Rishworthians Raiders 2 - 3 Baildon
Tries by Oliver Swales and William Symms were not enough as Baildon ran in 3 tries in a closly contested game. Man of the match went to William Symms.

Squad : William Symms, Sam Puddephatt, Callum Bell, James McHugh, Ben Riley, James Senneck.

Under 10's The Reds
Old Rishworthians welcomed Baildon to Copley on Sunday. Baildon do not run an under 10's team so The Reds played against the Baildon under 11's squad. Rishies were winners against this team in the corresponding fixture last season so expectations were high within the squad in repeating that success.

Rishworthian Reds 30 - 10 Baildon Under 11's
The opening encounters of this match were evenly contested with both teams trying to impose their authority on the game. The Reds persistence finally broke the deadlock with a well worked team try. With runs from Jack Davis, Thomas Sweeten and Will McDonnell, play was brought to within 10 metres of the Baildon try line. Rishies stayed on their feet and a driving maul was formed with Thomas Cockroft, Jonathan Wheatcroft and George Radcliffe binding on. With the assistance of backs Jacob Bower and Jack Davis, Baildon were forced back over the line where Cockroft grounded the ball. Rishies have an exemplary defensive record over the last 2 seasons, so it was with a touch of disappointment that Baildon managed to equalise straight away through a gap in defence that a bulldozer could drive through.

The game was end to end stuff but The Reds regained the lead with a try identical to the first. The power of the Reds forcing their older, bigger opponents back over the line for Cockroft to score his second try. When Baildon equalised again it looked as though Rishies were in for a tough time. The Reds though stepped up a gear and took control of the game. Jonathan Wheatcroft bashed his way through the Baildon defence, before passing to Will McDonnell who continued the run before being tackled. Jacob Bower picked up the recycled ball and dived over to score, giving The Reds a 15-0 lead. From a penalty on half way Jack Davis charged at the Baildon defence before being felled by a high tackle. Unfazed, Jack took the ball from the resulting penalty, and this time Baildon could not stop him and he scored a great solo try.

The Reds defence was now impressive with determined tackling in centre field from Radcliffe, Wheatcroft and Davis and out wide from Thomas Creasy, Sam Bake, McDonnell and Nathan Cooper. Ball retention was good, and when Baildon did have the ball, it was ripped from them by Jacob Bower, Thomas Sweeten and Cockroft. Rishies were also causing problems in the scrum forcing Baildon to make errors. A loose ball from a scrum was pounced on by scrum half McDonnell, his pass set Sam Bake across field and out to Sweeten on the wing who was forced in to touch.

Half time Rishwortians 20 - 10 Baildon.

Old Rishworthians began the second half with replacements Charlotte Siddall, Greg Day and Joe Sutcliffe. Davis continued The Reds formidable tackling with a huge hit on a Baildon forward. The home side stole the ball in the ensuing ruck and Sweeten made 30 metres before McDonnell took possession and dived over, only to be held up over the line by 2 Baildon defenders. Rishies scored again from a stolen line out near to the opposition line, Cockroft getting his hat trick try, to give the Reds a comfortable 15 points lead at 25-10.

The Reds defence was now in top gear with double tackles from Joe Sutcliffe and Charlotte Siddall, big hits from McDonnell and Bake out wide, and dumper truck collisions from Wheatcroft and Davis. The forward line of Wheatcroft, Siddall and Cockroft were winning scrums against the head, and Bower and Sweeten were ripping the ball time after time. A Baildon lineout 5 yards from the Reds line was won by the Reds which released Bake who sprinted 40 metres before being hauled down. Old Rishworthians secured the win with another well deserved try. Taking the ball in to the tackle, Radcliffe stayed on his feet and spun his way through three tackles before Cockroft took the ball off him and passed out to Will McDonnell who evaded a tackle to score from 5 metres out. Rishworthians winning 30-10.

Squad: Will McDonnell, Jacob Bower, Jack Davis, Jonathan Wheatcroft, Nathan Cooper, Sam Bake, Thomas Sweeten, Thomas Creasy, Thomas Cockroft, Charlotte Siddall, George Radcliffe, Greg Day, Joe Sutcliffe.

Man of the match Thomas Cockroft
Effort award Jonathan Wheatcroft.

I overheard the Baildon coach at the end of the game telling a few of his players "I told you they were a good side." We are getting a respectable reputation, and week in, week out, we as coaches are receiving compliments from other coaches as to the quality of this Reds side. Before the game the guys were told that they had the players and the skill to win this game. They showed those skills and that quality in a very impressive victory against a Baildon side who were bigger, a year older, and apparently more experienced than our players. You would never had known it. A well deserved pat on the back from the coaches, the better team won.

Many thanks to Lewis, Oliver, Dan and Harry for volunteering to help out the under 9?s. Dave P was very grateful. Also thanks to Hugh for refereeing the game and being fair and impartial throughout.

Under 11/12's
A mixed squad of under 11 and under 12 played a good Baildon under 12 side first and then played Baildon's under 11 squad.

Game 1 Rishworthians under 11/12's 7 - 40 Baildon Under 12's
Baildon dominated proceedings in the first half and had the breaks to run in 4 tries and converting three of them. Rishworthians managed a few good breaks into Baildon territory but Baildon were quicker to the breakdown and force turnover ball.

Half Time Rishworthians 0 - 26 Baildon

After the half time team talk Rishworthians came out strongly and broke the dry spell and Harvey Keighley Payne scored a long awaited try with the help of Kyle Jamieson who wasn't going to let this one get away and virtually pushed him over the line. James Stott converted the try with a great kick! This gave the guys a real boost and they played like demons nearly scoring a couple more tries which were disallowed unfortunately though Baildon managed to score and convert another couple of tries.

Game 2 Rishworthians under 11/12's 7 - 0 Baildon Under 11's
They played this one in the freezing rain but still managed to come up with some really good rugby. At one point the dads were unable to contain themselves and were running up and down the touch line it was so tense. Neither side gained the upper hand in the first half and the weather caused several handling errors.

The first half ended 0-0 but Rishworthians came out with determination in the second half. Again there were few scoring chances but with only a few minutes to go new player "Charlie", scored a great try and the game finished with Rishworthians recording a much deserved victory.
"Best game ever" according to a few of the team, although testosterone levels were running very high at the end of the game................

The Man of the Match was awarded to Charlie Clark-Jones
The effort award went to Harvey Keighley Payne.

Click here to view Baildon website

Huddersfield YMCA v Rishworthians

Rishworthians beat the cold at Huddersfield YMCA

Match report Sunday 23rd November
Rishworthians minis made the short trip to neighbours Huddersfield YMCA on a cold windy morning. Despite the cold weather the attendance was good.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros also joined in to train with Huddersfield YMCA micros, again there were around a dozen micros. The session was a great success and the general concensus is for perhaps another 4-5 sessions with local clubs.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Under terrible cold and wet conditions, Old Rishworthians Under 7's were entertained at Huddersfield YMCA.

Rishworthians 19 - 9 Huddersfield YMCA
Rishworthians got off to a good start, and ran away with the game, securing a 19 - 9 victory, mainly due to the fantastic team tagging. Rishworthians became complacent with the score, and allowed YMCA to run in a few tries, enough to wake the lads up and work as a strong team. Tries were scored by Jack Mallinson (5), Tom Georgiou (4), Finn Sutcliffe (3), Will Adams (2) and Henry Hilton (1). Reece Barraclough scored his first hat trick, and Reggie Herd attained his first of hopefully many tries, which earned him the Man of the Match title.

Under 8's The Destroyers
Rishworthians U8's travelled with a squad of 10 players to Huddersfield YMCA. Rishworthians lost the first game but bounced back to win the second game.

Game 1 Rishworthians 3 - 5 Huddersfield YMCA
Despite a well organised Rishworthians defence, poor tagging and too many careless errors allowed YMCA to run out winners. The teams were level at 3-3 with tries from William Harker, Kian Sutcliffe and Corey white but YMCA scored two late tries to win the game. Tom Stott deservedly took man of the match for a fine display of attacking rugby and strong running.

Man of match Tom Stott
Effort award Toby Helm
Tagger of match George Sutcliffe

Game 2 Rishworthians 6 - 5 Huddersfield YMCA
This was a better performance where the defence, as well as being organised, remembered how to tag. Kian Sutcliffe, Carrick Keighley-Payne and Luke Sadler all bagged two tries apiece with Luke's strong running earning him man of the match.

Man of match Luke Sadler
Effort award George Sutcliffe
Tagger of match Kian Sutcliffe

This was another great effort from all the team. Thanks again to the parents for their support and to Lee Haigh for coaching the team on the pitch.

Squad: Tom Stott, Joe Barratt, Kian Sutcliffe, George Sutcliffe, Corey White, Daniel Haigh, Toby Helm, Carrick Keighley-Payne, Luke Sadler, William Harker

Under 9's The Raiders
Despite a 6 - 1 defeat at the hands of Huddersfield YMCA, the Old Rishworthians U9 Raiders played some of their best rugby to date and the score line did not reflect the tightly contested match.

Old Rishworthians Raiders 1 - 6 Huddersfield YMCA
The team demonstrated some excellent rucking, driving forwards with the ball, passing and support play. Having taken an early lead through a quick dart down the touchline by scrum half Kallan Jamieson, the Raiders then struggled to defend as a team - allowing a couple of key Huddersfield players to break through the line 4 times before the break.

Rishworthian's defence improved in the second half with some committed tackling from Bell and Symms. However, the Raiders always struggled to get over the gain line from set pieces and that pressure eventually lead to a couple of late tries for Huddersfield. Despite the disappointing scoreline there were some very good performances, notably from Man of the Match James McHugh.

Man of the Match: James McHugh
Effort award: Kallan Jamieson.

Squad: Ben Riley, Sam Puddephatt, Will Symms, James McHugh, Kallan Jamieson, Tom Craven, Alex Scoley, William Hilton, Toby Muscat - Baron & Callum Bell

Under 10's The Reds
Old Rishworthians have an excellent record against Huddersfield YMCA, winning both matches last season by massive margins, and without conceding a try. So it was with an air of confidence that The Reds squad of 17 players took to the field.

Huddersfield 0 - 45 Rishworthian Reds
From YMCA?s kick off The Reds hit hard in the tackle and forced their opponents back deep in to their own half, and instantly received a scrum from a knock on. The next passage play with YMCA in possession, saw the power of the Rishies in a rolling maul which pushed YMCA back over their try line. The ball was dropped by YMCA and Jacob Bower fell on the ball to open the scoring. Another well controlled driving maul by The Reds saw the ball recycled to scrum half Will McDonnell, who released George Radcliffe to run in to score the second try. The game became a bit scrappy at times, possibly due to The Reds replacements coming on and off, but Rishies had more possession and territory. The third try came from a stolen ball in the line out near to the YMCA line. The ball went through 4 pairs of hands to Thomas Sweeten who shrugged off a would be tackler and strolled in. Will McDonnell then scored his first try of the game when he took the ball from the base of the scrum, side stepped two defenders, and dived over to make the half time score 20-0.

The second half started with an instant score for The Reds. From the kick off, big Jonathan Wheatcroft clasped the ball to his chest and set off in a straight line up the middle of the pitch. With defenders bouncing off in all directions Jonathan made it to the try line to register another try. The Reds were now in total control with great defence from all players, never giving YMCA a sniff of a score. After some good rucking, The Reds stole the ball again and Jonathan Wheatcroft went on another charging run, only to be hauled down inches short of the line. Oliver Swales was alive to the situation, picked up the ball and dive over to give The Reds a 30-0 lead. Rishworthians were aggressive in the their eagerness to get the ball which was causing enforced errors from the YMCA players. Such pressure caused a fumble near the YMCA try line; Jack Davis was quickest to the ball and scored from 3 yards out. The Reds were now playing as though they could score with every possession. Sam Bake cut a swathing run through the YMCA defence before being brought down. Will McDonnell picked up from the ruck and appeared to have scored, only to be ruled as having dropped the ball in the act of scoring. He did however make amends by scoring the next try. After YMCA touched down in their in goal area, The Reds turned over the resulting scrum and McDonnell scored a now familiar try by sneaking in from 5 yards out. Another steal in the maul by Nathan Cooper was fed out to McDonnell who raced 30 yards to score his hat trick try and a final score of 45-0 to The Reds.

Man of match Joe Sutcliffe.
Effort award Dan Byrnes.
Thanks to Charlotte and Billy for volunteering to be YMCA players for part of the match due to 2 of their players getting injured.

A convincing win from The Reds who as a team, never had a doubt that they would win and more pleasing for the coaches, that yet again we did not concede a try. Apologies also to the players for not getting much game time, but with only 30 minutes playing time it was difficult to juggle 17 players. But as is our policy, they all played. Many thanks again to all parents who turned out en masse, yet again, to support the team.

Under 11/12's
The Rishworthians combined under 11/2's containing mostly under 11 players had to play Hudderfield YMCA under full 12's with YM's under 11's deciding to train.

Game 1 Huddersfield YMCA 35 - 0 Rishworthians
THe Huddersfield YMCA under 12 side proved to be too strong and experienced for again. The team played well against a much bigger side and managed to hold them to four tries in the first half. In the second half again the team performed well to reduce YMCA to scoring 3 tries. Despite the defeat the coaches saw plenty of positives as the improvement continues. Two new players also joined the squad with newcomer George Hampshire impressing the coaches on his debut to take the man of the match award. Numbers are steadily inceasing as we try to build the squad into two seperate under 11 and under 12 squads

Man of the Match:- Another newcommer George Hampshire
Effort Award:- Jack bruce

Click here to view Huddersfield YMCA website

Skipton and North Ribblesdale v Rishworthians

Rishworthians, Skipton and North Ribblesdale back in action after the freeze.

Match report Sunday 14th December
After 2 weeks of postponed matches Rishworthians made the trip to Skipton to play in a 3 way with North Ribblesdale. After rain all Friday night and Saturday the pitch was very heavy and the temperature just above freezing conditions were not ideal. However the minis are made of stern stuff and braved the elements to produce some good rugby.

The under 10's continued their winning run with victories over Skipton and North Ribblesdale and the under 11/12's although lost 5-21 put n a great performance. The under 8's did well recording 2 wqins and a draw.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros trained at Copley today. Despite the cold damp weather there good numbers training.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Under terrible cold and wet conditions, Old Rishworthians Under 7's travelled to Skipton with 5 players but were able to borrow 2 under 8 players.

Skipton 8 - 4 Rishworthians
Skipton started with game and soon ran into a 2 try lead before Brandon Savage pulled one back. Skipton kept up the pressure to ease into a 4 - 1 lead at half time. The Young Guns came back with tries from Jack Mallinson and Tom Georgiou but Skipton always looked like winning the game ran in four more tries before Jack Mallinson added his second try to end the game. Rishworthians going down 4 - 8.

Skipton 4 - 3 Rishworthians
A much closer game this time with Rishworthians taking the lead through Tom Georgiou before Skipton levelled the scores. Rishworthians took the lead again through two Tom Georgiou tries but Skipton again fought back to make the score 3-3. In the last minute Skipton scored the winning try to give them a 4-3 victory.

Man of the match Tom Georgiou

Under 8's The Destroyers
Rishworthians U8's travelled with a squad of 8 players to Skipton. However the U7's only had 5 players so Toby Helm and Zak Rush agreed to join the U7's for the morning. The remaining six players did brilliantly in attacking play but lacked the defensive qualities required to keep the opposition out. Rishworthians won 2 games and drew 1.

Game 1 Rishworthians 11 - 9 Skipton B
In the first game against Skipton B Luke Sadler demonstrated some awesome timing of his runs to bag 5 tries and earn himself man of the match. The final score of 11-9 doesn't reflect Old Rishworthians superior play.

Scorers Luke Sadler 5, Carrick Keighley-Payne 2, Tom Stott 2, George Sutcliffe 2
Man of match Luke Sadler
Effort Award Tom Stott

Game 2 Rishworthians 7 - 7 Skipton A
The defence did improve after the first game and that enabled the team to come from 4-1 down against Skipton A in the second game to draw 7-7. This was a better performance where the defence was well organised.

Scorers Carrick Keighley-Payne 2, Luke Sadler 2, George Sutcliffe 2 Corey White 1
Man of match Carrick Keighley-Payne
Effort award Joe Barratt

Game 3 Rishworthians 4 - 2 North Ribblesdale
In a shortened game against North Ribblesdale Rish were comfortable 4-2 winners.
Scorers Corey White 3, George Sutcliffe 1

Man of match Corey White
Effort award George Sutcliffe

Squad: Tom Stott, Joe Barratt, Kian Sutcliffe, George Sutcliffe, Corey White, Daniel Haigh, Toby Helm, Zak Rush Carrick Keighley-Payne, Luke Sadler

Under 9's The Raiders
An away trip to Skipton proved to be a tough encounter for the Old Rishworthian Under 9's.

Skipton 11 - 0 Rishworthians Raiders
A big size difference between the two sides meant the the Raiders were put on the back foot from the start of the match. The Skipton team relied heavily on one key player in particular, who scored at will throughout the match, sometimes having Rishworth players literally hanging off him as he crossed the whitewash!

New recruit Tom Craven made some brave defensive tackles for the Raiders, as did man of the match Toby Muscat - Baron. Rishworth almost scored from a fine run by Sam Puddephatt, but the Skipton defence was just too good and he was bundled into touch.

Effort Award: Sam Puddephatt
Man of the Match: Toby Muscat - Baron

This Saturday the Raiders play an exhibition match in front of the crowd at Headingley Leeds during the half time break in the top of the table clash between Leeds v Exeter. After the match they are invited to meet the players in the players lounge.

Under 10's The Reds
On Sunday Old Rishworthian under 10's crossed the border once again in to North Yorkshire to the splendid setting at Skipton RUFC, for a 3 way tournament against the hosts and North Ribblesdale. The Reds, who are unbeaten this year, were trying to extend that run going in to the Xmas break, and they maintained that record with convincing wins against both teams. Both games were played 7 minutes each way.

Skipton 0 - 25 Rishworthian Reds
The morning could not have got off to a worse start, when, during the warm up, two of the players went down with hypothermia, but with a couple of heat packs and a quick rub down, they were eager to rejoin the fray.

The Reds started the match with the ball, and Jack Davis (The Rhino) made the initial charge through the Skipton defence before being eventually brought down. The first try soon came when The Reds were awarded a penalty in the Skipton half. This time Big Jonathan Wheatcroft took the ball, and has he has so often recently, barged his way through the defence, who could not bring him down, and fell over the try line. Skipton had a few quick backs but big tackles from Will McDonnell, Jacob Bower and Sam Bake bundled them in to touch.

The Reds second try came from a handling error by Skipton. Jack Davis fell on to the loose ball and with excellent support play, the ball was recycled back to scrum half Will McDonnell who skipped around the Skipton defence to score in the corner to make the half time score 10 - 0 to The Reds.

Recent training in rucks and mauls came to fruition when Jack Davis was tackled again after another promising run. Well organised support play from George Radcliffe and Thomas Cockroft allowed quick ball for McDonnell to spin the ball out wide to fly half Jacob Bower who sprinted in to increase the lead. The Rishies players then showed their strength and teamwork with a rolling maul that formed 15 metres from the Skipton line and ended with them over the line, but unfortunately George Radcliffe was deemed to have been held up. The Reds pack dominated the scrum which caused Skipton to go down. The resulting turnover scrum fed the ball back out to Bower, who side stepped two defenders,before going over again.

The last try of the game came from Will McDonnell, who received the ball in his own half, found a huge gap in the Skipton defence, and sprinted 40 yards unopposed to score. The final score 25-0 to The Reds.

Man of match Jacob Bower
Effort award Nathan Cooper

North Ribblesdale 0 - 25 Rishworthian Reds
The Reds started this game in the same frame of mind that they finished the previous one. From the kick off, working and moving together, they got in to the faces of the Ribbs youngsters. The first turnover ball brought Nathan Cooper in to play, dodging and weaving between the opposition, up to the Ribbs try line where he was dragged down with inches to go. Quick thinking Charlotte Siddall, pounced on the ball and took it over the line to open The Reds account.

Big tackles near to the Ribblesdale line put pressure on them and Jonathan Wheatcroft turned the ball over. The ball was given to Cooper again, who angled right across field and this time went over to score. A third try seemed to have been scored by Jacob Bower, who, with the assistance of his team mates, was pushed over the line, only for a Ribblesdale defender to get himself under the ball and deny the try.

The Rishies were in control of the game and another try came before half time when Nathan Cooper gave a nice pass to Sam Bake who made the score 15-0.

The second half saw Oliver Swales replacing Will McDonnell at scrum half and he became a thorn in the side of the opposing scrum half. On 3 occasions he pounced on his opposite number at the base of the scrum stopping the distribution of the ball. The Reds continued to steal the ball in rucks and mauls, and one such steal in midfield allowed Thomas Creasey to cross the line. Creasey's second try came soon after from another good phase of play in midfield, making the final score 25-0 to The Reds.

Man of match Thomas Creasey
Effort award Oliver Swales

Squad: Lewis Hilton, Jonathan Wheatcroft, Dan Byrne, Joe Sutcliffe, Nathan Cooper, Harry Crabtree, Oliver Swales, Sam Bake, Charlotte Siddall, Thomas Creasey, George Radcliffe, Thomas Cockroft, Greg Day, Jacob Bower, Jack Davis, Will McDonnell.

A good morning's work in difficult conditions to maintain our unbeaten run this year, and more importantly, no tries scored against us again.

Under 11/12's
We only played North Ribblesdale on Sunday as we had quite a long wait till our first game and after the game were given the choice of playing Skipton or going home and all chose the warm club house against another match in the cold!

Game 1 North Ribblesdale 21 - 5 Rishworthians
They played well against Ribblesdale even though we only had 9 players and had to borrow three from Skipton. Ribblesdale scored first and converted the try but Rishworthians fought back straight away and Harvey Keighley-Payne scored to finish off some good team work. The conversion was missed. They stopped a Ribblesdale lad from scoring once by literally lifting him up from the line before he could exert any downwar pressure. Ribblesdale scored a converted another try before half time to make the score 14-5 to them.

The second half was quite evenly matched and Rishworthians played some really good rugby but the game ended with another converted try from Ribblesdale. It was a good game with some excellent tackling and coach Andy Day was pleased with the scrummaging. Final Score: 21:5 to Ribblesdale

Man of the Match : Harvey Keighley-Payne
Effort award : Lewis Dawrant

Click here to view Skipton website

Cleckheaton v Rishworthians

Cleckheaton and Rishworthians beat the wind and freezing conditions.

Match report Sunday 11th January
After the Christmas break Rishworthians open the second half of the season with a visit to neighbours Cleckheaton. Rishworthians entertaind Cleckheaton back in September when the weather was described as Indian summer conditions. What a contrast, on Saturday morning pitches were frozen solid all over Yorkshire with no senoir games played on Saturday afternoon. But with temperatures rising and a strong westerly blowing the grounds recovered quickly to allow the games to get under way today.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros had 13 players training and learning how to play tag rugby. The squad is split into 2 groups, the new players and last years more experienced micros. Coaches Neil Lumb, Darren Grogan, Warren Doyle and Guy Laurie put them through their paces. Next week they entertain Huddersfield YMCA Micros

Under 7's The Young Guns
After a long Christmas break, the young guns travelled to Cleckheaton and played a mixed 7's and 8's squad. The pitch had thawed out overnight and the game was played in good but windy conditions.

Cleckheaton Under 7/8's 7 - 7 Rishworthians
Cleckheaton played good rugby and opened the game with the first 2 tries. Tom Georgiou then scored 2 tries for the Young Guns to draw level 2 - 2. Cleckheaton added 2 more ties before Rishworthians finished the first half off with further tries from Brandon Savage and Tom Georgiou to end the half 4 -4.

The second half was much the same with a very even contest with Rishworthians scoring further tries from Brandon Savage (1), Tom Georgiou (1) and Reggie Herd (1). Cleckheaton then rallied to finish strongly with 3 tries leaving the score all square at 7-7.

Under 8's The Destroyers
What a frustrating morning, particularly for the coaches. Having spent 20 minutes warming up emphasising the need for good solid defence and strong tagging, when it came to the game it was all forgotten.

Game 1 Cleckheaton 5 - 4 Rishworthians
Cleckheaton opened the scoring with hardly a tag having been made. Corey White then ran in a good individual try to level things at 1-1. Poor tagging again allowed Cleckheaton to score before a strong run from Nathan Donaldson levelled the scores again at 2-2. Again poor defence allowed Cleckheaton to score twice more to lead 4-2. William Harker was then rewarded for his hard work with a fine run to score Rishworthians third try. The following Rishworthians score was the best try scored this season so far by the U8's. William Harker broke away from the Cleckheaton defence to run half the length of the field. As he was being tagged he offloaded a superb pass to Corey White who ran on 5 metres before he again, as he was being tagged, offloaded a great pass to Nathan Donaldson who ran in at the corner to level the scores at 4-4. Sadly Cleckheaton once again breezed past the Rishworthians defence to score and give them a 5-4 win.

Man of match William Harker for consistently fine running.
Effort Award Daniel Haigh
Tagger of the match went to George Sutcliffe.

Squad : George Sutcliffe, Daniel Haigh, Zak Rush, Toby Helm , Nathan Donaldson, Corey White, Luke Sadler, Joe Barratt, William Harker, Carrick Keighley-Payne

Under 9's The Raiders
Old Rishworthian under 9's started the new year with a much improved performance away at Cleckheaton on Sunday 11th January.

Game 1 Cleckheaton 5 - 5 Rishworthian Raiders
Playing into a howling wind in the first half the Raiders opened the scoring through a trademark sniping run from winger Kallan Jamieson. Cleckheaton hit back though with two tries, having kept possession of the ball for significant periods of time. Sam Puddephatt then ripped the ball out of a tackle for The Raiders and burst across the try line to level the scores at half time.

In the second half both teams fought hard for possession of the ball, with lots of rucking and mauling but little expansive rugby. William Hilton and Tom Craven both put in fine defensive performances to halt the Cleckheaton momentum, while Will Symms managed to sprint the length of the field for Rishworthians, having received a pass from a line out close to his own try line. He then followed this up with a second score to make it 4 tries to 2. Cleckheaton then enjoyed their best spell of the game, scoring 3 tries in quick succession. Tom Craven managed to level the score for Rishworthians at 5 tries each after running through the whole Cleckheaton team from a re-start and in the dying seconds of the match both teams had the chance to steal victory. A draw was a fair result though and on this performance, The Raiders can look forward to an exciting second half of the season.

Effort Award: Will Symms,
Man of the Match: Sam Puddephatt

Squad: Kallan Jamieson, Sam Puddephatt, William Symms, William Hilton, Tom Craven, Callum Bell, James McHugh

Under 10's The Reds and All Blacks - RAMPANT REDS BLITZ CLECK
Having not had a game for four weeks, The Reds were biting at the bit and raring to get back in to action. The opposition this Sunday were Cleckheaton, who unfortunately for them, came across a Reds team on the top of their game, and suffered a 23 try 115 - 0 demolition.

With a full squad of 18 players again, The Reds split in to two teams The Reds and the All Blacks and agreed to play 4 quarters of 8 minutes each period. This enabled the coaches to rotate the teams between each period.

Game 1 Rishworthian Reds 30 - 0 Cleckheaton
Old Rishworthians took this game by the scruff of the neck from their very first spell of possession with a powerful driving maul that pushed Cleckheaton back towards their try line. Thomas Cockroft broke off from the maul with the ball going first to Thomas Creasey, and then to fly half Jacob Bower who powered over for the first try with only one minute on the clock. The second try soon followed after Jack Davis ripped his way through the defence before passing to Cockroft who scored. Cleckheaton could not cope with the Reds onslaught and Will McDonnell tested the defence with an injection of pace before giving a pass in the tackle to Bower to go over for his second try. Good rucking at the breakdown allowed scrum half McDonnell to free Nathan Cooper who scythed through the Cleckheaton line before being tackled short of the line. Will McDonnell picked up from the ruck and ran in to score. The floodgates opened and even at this early stage the game ceased being a contest. McDonnell scored his second try after 5 phases of play with good recycled ball, when he side stepped the defence to nip over the line from 3 metres out. Forceful forward play again from George Radcliffe, Greg Day and Cockroft drove Cleckheaton backwards to gain ground for 'The Rhino'Davis to burst through the defensive line to make the score 30-0 after only the first period.

Game 2 Rishworthian All Blacks 20 - 0 Cleckheaton
The All Blacks squad came on for the second quarter and continued to convert possession and territory into points with tries coming thick and fast. Billy (Whizz) Whythe managed to stretch his arm over the line after strong runs from Jonathan Wheatcroft and Thomas Sweeten had brought the ball to within feet of the try line. Whythe scored another moments later when his quick thinking saw him first to a loose ball in Cleckheatons in goal area. Cleckheaton tried to maintain possession of the ball but with Cockroft and George Radcliffe ripping the ball at every opportunity, they had little chance to develop any play. Jonathan 'The Bear' Wheatcroft then weighed in with 2 tries. The first one, barging over from a scrappy line out, and the second saw him drag himself, and 5 defenders hanging on to him, over the line. Score 50-0.

Game 3 Rishworthian Reds 35 - 0 Cleckheaton
The Reds squad took over and continued the dominance. From another steal in the maul Sam Bake peeled off and sprinted cross field to score. Thomas Sweeten then touched down following a sweeping cross field move through quick hands, and soon after Wheatcroft scored the easiest of his 3 tries as he strolled over unopposed. Old Rishworthians mauling has improved in recent weeks and this was evident throughout the game. Newcomer Jamie Smith popped out of the side of one such maul to dive over for his first try for the club. The tide of All Blacks players going forward was now relentless. Good interplay between McDonnell, Cooper and Cockroft allowed Davis space to score, and the same player went over again moment later after a Cleckheaton penalty 5 yards from the line. Next on the score sheet was Nathan Cooper who benefited from a good run by Joe Sutcliffe down the wing. Nathan picked up when Joe was tackled and spun out of two tackles before finding a gap in the defence. 85 - 0

Game 4 Rishworthian All Blacks 30 - 0 Cleckheaton
The final period continued as before with The All Blacks maintaining pressure and not allowing Cleckheaton out of their own half. Strong tackles from Charlotte Siddall, Oliver Swales and Dan Byrne, laid the platform for the backs to continue the assault on the Cleckheaton line. Blacks pressure over the Cleckheaton goal line forced a fumble, and Thomas Sweeten fell on the loose ball to score. A trademark jinking run from McDonnell, followed by a pass in the tackle to Sweeten, brought play up to the Cleckheaton line again where Sweeten was tackled. Quick recycled ball from the forwards allowed scrum half McDonnell to pick up and plop over the line. The try that gave the squad 100 points was again due to a dropped ball in the tackle over the home sides try line. This time 3 players had hands on the ball with the try going to Lewis Hilton. The last three tries came in quick succession. The All Blacks won a scrum against the head close to the try line, and like a true scrum half, McDonnell zipped down the blind side and dived over. Thomas Sweeten then stole the ball from a Cleckheaton defender in the in goal area again and popped it down. The final score went again to Thomas Sweeten who battled his way out of three tackles to make the final score 115-0, and his determination to score epitomized the doggedness shown by all his team mates from the first to the final whistle.

Credit due to the Cleckheaton youngsters, who, in the face of such a dominant force, never gave up playing and were very courteous in defeat. A very good mornings work from all the squad with 11 different scorers. A one sided game but it was nice to see that we did not relax, maintained our dominance throughout, and did not allow Cleckheaton to have a sniff of a try.

Scorers: Lewis Hilton, Nathan Cooper, Jamie Smith, Sam Bake, Thomas Cockroft, Billy Whythe (2), Thomas Sweeten (4), Jonathan Wheatcroft (3), Jacob Bower (2), Jack Davis (3), Will McDonnell (4).

Man of the match and effort awards have been given to the whole squad.

Under 11/12's
What an exciting mornings Rugby! They played three matches against Cleckheaton and we won two and lost one by just one try! It was great that we had a good turnout of players on Sunday including two new guys Joe and Ben and I think the fact that we didn't have to borrow any players made a big difference to the team spirit!

Game 1 Rishworthians 24 - 14 Cleckheaton U12's
We scored quite early on in the first game when Harvey Keighley-Payne got a short pass from the ruck and drove up the blind side and scored in the corner. Cleckheaton fought back with a try from their big forward before some excellent driving from all our forwards including Lewis and Ben pushed the maul over the Cleckheaton line, James Radcliffe broke free to ground the ball for the second try. From a scrum deep in Rishworth territory Edward went blind side and fed winger Haydn Corns, who beat his man and was in the clear, with lots of encouragement from the now frenzied parents he ran 30m but was brought down at the last minute. James Radcliffe broke from the maul and stormed his way through with a 25m run to score his second try to make the score a very satisfying 21-7. Cleckheaton fought back with a second try, another from their big forward, but we were not done yet! The final try came after Harvey Keighley-Payne?s kick off was greedily chased by the team who confidently tackled and won the ball for Harvey to plough his way through two great tackles to end the score 24-14 to us. Heaven!

Game 2 Rishworthians 7 - 14 Cleckheaton U12's
Cleckheaton opened the scoring in the first half but our guys were not put off and some good driving from Rishworth took the play into Cleckheaton half, Richard Bullough powered over the line taking two Cleckheaton players with him. Cleckheaton scored a second try to end the game 14-7 to Cleckheaton.

Game 2 Rishworthians 14 - 10 Cleckheaton U12's
The third match didn't start too good for Rishworthians as Cleckheaton scored the first two tries although failed to convert them. Rishworth, having tasted victory, fought back doggedly and after a penalty to Rishworth Kyle Jamieson drove the ball in and got another penalty after Cleckheaton infringed, from the resulting penalty Harvey Keighley-Payne ran right and then switched left to find a weak spot in the defence and scored in the corner which was converted by Joe Garside. Another 30m break from Richard Bullough took play deep into Cleckheaton half and a moment later Richard got the ball back to burst over to score the second try, again converted by Joe Garside.

With time running out and the scores close Cleckheaton camped on the Rishworth line determined to get the winning score. Again and again Cleckheaton drove for the line but this time the tackling was sound. Earlier In the day their big number 9 would have powered through, but now tackles came flying in from all the Rishworthians particularly Kyle and Edward to hold him back. Twice Casey's tackling saved certain tries. Finally the pressure was relieved when Harvey, playing at Fly Half for the first time, was able to clear the line with a huge kick downfield, and the game was won 14-10.

Well done lads the referee said it was a pleasure to referee the matches and that you all played like professionals, even when it came to tackling players just a teeny weenie bit bigger than you.............

Man of the Match :Joe Garside Effort Award : Edward Denham

Click here to view Cleckheaton website

Rishworthians v Huddersfield YMCA and Bramley Phoenix

Copley bursting at the seams

Match report Sunday 18th January
Rishworthians hosted Bramley Phoenix and Huddersfield YMCA in a three way fixtutre at Copley. Despite the cold wind the attendance was good with over 150 mini players taking part.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros also played host to Huddersfield YMCA micros. Just over 20 Rishworthian Micros turned out on cold day to train with Huddersfield YMCA and play a non competitve game of tag rugby.

Under 7's The Young Guns
The Young Guns entertained Huddersfield YMCA and for the first time Bramley Phoenix .

Rishworthians 7 - 5 Huddersfield YMCA
A very evenly matched first half, every time Rishworthians scored a try, Huddersfield YMCA matched it with their own. The first half saw tries from Finn Sutcliffe (1), Tom Georgiou (2) and Oscar Thomas-Rowe (1), being only the second time Oscar has played, moving up from the Under 5/6's.

In the second half, Finn Sutcliffe ran away with the game, scoring all 3 tries. Huddersfield YMCA attained only 1 try in the second half, leaving the final score 7-5 to Rishworthians.

Man of the Match Finn Sutcliffe

Rishworthians 6 - 4 Bramley Phoenix
The wind increased for the second match, which made it difficult for handling, however Rishworthians attained a second win, with a 6-4 finish. Will Adams and Tom Georgiou opened the game with a try a piece. Bramley Phoenix then retaliated with a couple of tries, making Rishworthians up their game, and Jack Mallinson & Finn Sutcliffe scored 2 a piece, only allowing Bramley Phoenix to gain another 2. Which makes this our 11th win of the season.

Man of the Match William Adams

Under 8's The Destroyers
On a very cold morning all the players put in a fantastic effort, especially after standing around waiting 20 minutes to play the second game. No one single player deserved to win the effort award in either game so this was given to all the players.

Game 1 Rishworthians 3 - 6 Huddersfield YMCA
Huddersfield turned up with enough players for two sides and fielded the stronger of the two sides against Rishworthians. The home team made a great start helped by some tenacious tagging to take a 2-0 lead through scores from Luke Sadler and Kian Sutcliffe. Hudderfield then ran riot scoring four unanswered tries, helped by three errors from the Rishworthian players. Carrick Keighley-Payne then pulled one back before Huddersfield ran in two late scores to win 6-3.

Man of match Luke Sadler
Tagger of match William Harker

Game 2 Rishworthians 4 - 4 Bramley Phoenix
Both sides tried to play some good rugby in a stop start game with plenty of errors. Neither team was able to get on top and neither team led by more than one point during the game. Rishworthians tries came from Luke Sadler 2, Nathan Donaldson and Carrick Keighley-Payne.

Man of match Nathan Donaldson
Taggers of match Corey White and Kian Sutcliffe

Well done to all the players again for keeping going and to Simon Donaldson and Lee Haigh for coaching the team and for their continual encouragement.

Squad: William Harker, Toby Helm, Tom Stott, Zak Rush, Nathan Donaldson, Carrick Keighley-Payne, Daniel Haigh, Corey White, Kian Sutcliffe, Luke Sadler

Under 9's The Raiders
The much improved Raiders hosted Huddersfield YMCA this Sunday and held the visitors to a 3 - 3 Bramley Phoenix were unable to field an under 9's squad.

Rishworthians Raiders 3 - 3 Huddersfield YMCA
Old Rishworthian's Under 9's produced a fine second half display at the weekend to record a 3 - 3 draw against local rivals Huddersfield YMCA. Having suffered a 5 tries to 1 defeat earlier in the season against the same opposition, The Rishworthian Raiders looked to be heading for a similar fate when poor defence allowed YMCA to score two first half tries. This was disappointing after the team had put in a splendid tackling display in their previous match.

However, a stern half time team talk from coach Dave Puddephatt brought an instant improvement in the second period. Any YMCA forward runs were halted by a very impressive Tom Craven, and when Sam Puddephatt made a 30 meter break down the right hand flank to score, the Raiders' spirits were completely rejuvenated. The team went from strength to strength - ripping the ball out of mauls and showing real commitment driving over rucks. Puddephatt then scored an exact replica of his first try to level the scores at 2 tries each, before YMCA were allowed to dive on a spilled line out ball to take the lead. With Craven and Toby Muscat-Baron doing a fine defensive job for the Raiders, Callum Bell received a short pass and made a strong run through the YMCA defence to level the scores once more at 3 - 3. The score stayed this way until the final whistle although the Raiders had a clear opportunity to clinch victory right at the death - had a pass gone to hand.

Man of the match: Tom Craven
Effort Award: Toby Muscat-Baron

Squad: Ben Riley, Sam Puddephatt, Will Symms, James McHugh, Kallan Jamieson, Tom Craven, Alex Scoley, William Hilton, Toby Muscat - Baron & Callum Bell

Under 10's The Reds and All Blacks
The under 10's have not played at home since the beginning of November last year, so it was nice to be back on our own turf to welcome today's opponents Bramley Phoenix and Huddersfield YMCA to Copley for a three way tournament.

Rishworthian Reds 50 - 0 Bramley Phoenix
This group of Old Rishworthians have never played Bramley Phoenix before so we were a bit apprehensive as to what to expect. We should not have worried. From the Phoenix kick off The Reds pounced on the visitors and forced them back towards their own line. Continued early pressure brought a scrum to The Reds close to the Bramley line and Jack Davis powered over for the opening try. A second try soon followed when the ball was turned over in the ruck and 'Rhino'Davis picked up and ran in from 5 metres out to make the score 10-0. Bramley could not cope with the battering tackles from The Reds, and another turnover ball gave big forward Jonathan Wheatcroft chance to go down the blind side to score in the corner. Rishies were now beginning to take control of the game. Sheer power in the scrum forced Bramley backwards and against the head the ball was recycled to Thomas Sweeten to open his account as he forced his way over for a 20-0 lead. It appeared that Will McDonnell had scored his first of the game when he went over in a mass of players only for the ball to be ruled as held up. Undaunted, his chance came again when Bramley fumbled the ball 1 metre from their try line, Will McDonnell picked up and dived over. With half time approaching, strong determined running from 'The Bear' Wheatcroft and Sweeten brought play deep in to Bramley territory where scrum half McDonnell finished off the move with his second of the game. Bramley passed the ball well and tried to run the ball but rarely ventured in to The Reds half.

The second half continued in the same fashion as the first with Rishies aggressive in the tackle and eager in the breakdown. Constant pressure paid dividends again after good quick handling from McDonnell, George Radcliffe and Jacob Bower. The ball was spun out to Sweeten who pinned his ears back and sprinted in from half way. Bramley Phoenix were the harbingers of their own downfall with poor handling, causing a series of fumbles, which The Reds pounced on again and again. Will McDonnell picked up one such loose ball and beat 4 players before crossing the line. Wheatcroft picked up another and sent Sam Bake sprinting across field only to be brought down with a try saving tackle. A third dropped ball gave The Reds a scrum where Davis charged at the defence and scored. So we thought. The try was ruled out because Jack used a hand off in the act of scoring. The Rishies youngsters were now seemingly scoring at will and Thomas Sweeten scored his third try when he was first to a loose ball on the Bramley try line. In the final seconds of the game The Reds won another scrum against the head, the Phoenix defence opened up like the Red Sea, and Will McDonnell strolled through from 5 metres out to make the final score 50-0 to Old Rishworthians.

Scorers: Jack Davis (2), Jonathan Wheatcroft, Thomas Sweeten (3), Will McDonnell (4).

Rishworthian Reds 40 - 5 Huddersfield YMCA
Past encounters with YMCA usually end up with large margins of victory for The Reds. The way Rishies began this game it appeared that it would be the case again. From the off, strong penetrating runs from Dan Byrne and Ollie Swales took play in to the YMCA half where Jack Davis finished off with the opening try. But then YMCA passed the ball through their backs and a tiny YMCA youngster set off from his own half and outpaced the Reds defence down the wing to score. The Reds are not used to having tries scored against them and this shock set them off on a scoring spree. Power from the forward line pushed YMCA on to the back foot and Thomas Sweeten carried on his strong play from the first game as he shrugged and spun out of three tackles to give the lead back to Rishies. A rolling maul made 10 metres before stand in scrum half Ollie Swales popped out of the side and scampered in to increase the lead. Thomas Cockroft continues to impress in the forward line and yet again he ripped the ball from a bigger opponent and passed the ball out to Davis to run in from half way. Half time score 20-5.

Old Rishworthians kicked off the second half in impressive style when the ball was given to Davis running at pace. He bullocked his way through the defence and did not stop until he hit the try line. Jamie Smith, in his second week at the club, stole the ball in a maul and gave it out to Will McDonnell who managed to spin and step through three tackles to make the score 30-5. After the early fright, The Reds were now dominating the game, and the next try came from a well drilled scrum with the ball going out quickly to Jamie Smith who drove over the line in to the corner. The final score was a team effort. From a penalty the ball was passed through numerous hands to Wheatcroft who bashed his way through the defence before being held up. A maul was formed and moved 5 metres forward before Davis peeled off and went down the blind side to score. The Reds finally winning 40-5.

Scorers: Jack Davis (4), Thomas Sweeten, Oliver Swales, Jamie Smith, Will McDonnell.
Man of match Jack Davis
Effort award Oliver Swales
Tackler award William McDonnell

Under 11/12's
A fantastic turn out of 18 players on Sunday morning and it was really great to be able to field a full team and have the luxury of reserves as well!

Game 1 Rishworthians 0 - 33 Bramley Phoenix
The first match was played against Bramley which we lost 33-0. The players were beaten by a strong side who had, unfortunately for us, mastered the art of passing, running fast and growing really tall!!! Saying that there was some really good tackling from Rishworthians, especially the wingers Thomas Vaughan and Max Dawes, which prevented the final score being much higher.

Game 2 Rishworthians 0 - 17 Huddersfield YMCA
After a well needed team building rest in the warmth of the club house the guys came out with a renewed energy for the second game against Huddersfield YMCA. They played sharper and showed more spirit and determination when stealing the ball from the YMCA players although despite their onslaught Rishworthians couldn't manage to get across the line to score. The team didn't give up though and fought right up to the final whistle and the score of 17-0 to YMCA really didn't do justice to the amount of effort they had put in! Not too bad a score though to say that YMCA appeared to be the stronger of the three sides as they had apparently trounced Bramley earlier!!

Man of the match (for excellent tackling!) Tom Vaughan
Effort Award Richard Bullough

Click here to view Huddersfield YMCA website
Click here to view Bramley Phoenix website

Keighley and Selby v Rishworthians

Minis play good rugby despite the very wet conditions

Match report Sunday 25th January
Rishworthians under 7's,8's,9's,11/12's made the short journey to Keighley. The under 10's found themselves without a fixture against Keighley but a few phone calls found Selby hapy to host the squad at short notice. They made the longer journey down the M62 to Selby and make up a 3 way with Leodiensians.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros trained his Sunday with a good attendance 17 players. Young Oscar Thomas-Rowe who reached his 6th birthday has moved up to join in with the under 7's and is performing well scoring another try again today.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Keighley were unable to field seperate under 7 & 8 squads so both sides agreed to merge with the under 8's to form 2 mixed unde 7/8 squads.

Keighley A 5 - 7 Rishworthians B
Rishworthians B Squad played very well despite the poor conditions under foot with solid tagging which delivered the win. Some great runs by Tom Georgiou down the wing lead to his impressive scoring in this match in less than ideal conditions. Tries were scored by a Tom Georgiou hat trick, Will Adams 2, Corey White and Will Harker.

Keighley B 7 - 12 Rishworthians B
This match was a text book example of how well Rishworthians can play tag rugby with solid tagging and great defensive work. Every player showed a great understanding of the game identifying spaces to run through. Tries were scored Tom Georgiou 4, Brandon Savage hat trick, Corey White hat trick , Will Adams, and Tom Stott

Under 8's The Destroyers
With Keighley having a mixed squad of 13 U7's and U8's and Rishworthians having 17 U7's and U8's it was decided to play two mixed teams from each club. Reggie Herd very sportingly agreed to play for Keighley team to give them seven players on both sides. My apologies to Reggie for not remembering to swop him back onto the Rishworthians team after the first game.

Game 1 Keighley A 8 - 9 Rishworthians A
In terrible conditions under foot both teams managed to play some excellent rugby. Although the score line was close Rish never looked like losing the game. The mixing of the age groups seemed to spur the U8's on and their tagging was much improved on recent weeks. The performance of the U7's was again brilliant and anyone watching wouldn't have been able to distinguish between the 7's and 8's. George Sutcliffe and Nathan Donaldson both bagged a hat trick of tries, the other scores coming from Jack Mallinson 2 and a fine individual try from young Oscar Rowe. At this point I would like to make a special mention of Reggie. Not only did he play for the opposition and have the best game I have seen him play, he also bagged a hat trick of tries against his own team mates with some fantastic running and support play. Although not on the Rishworthians side it was decided that Reggie be awarded man of the match alongside George Sutcliffe for Rishworthians.

Man of match Reggie Herd, George Sutcliffe
Effort award Jack Mallinson
Tagger of match Whole team for improvement on previous weeks

Game 2 Keighley B 7 - 8 Rishworthians A
On a marginally drier pitch the speed merchants from Rishworth were able to stretch their legs and score at ease. Unfortunately so were the ones from Keighley resulting in an exciting game which went from end to end. Scores came from Carrick Keighley-Payne 4, and one apiece from Jack Mallinson, Joe Barrett, George Sutcliffe and Nathan Donaldson.

Man of match Carrick Keighley-Payne
Tagger of match Reece Barraclough
Effort award Joe Barratt

Squad A Jack Mallinson, Carrick Keighley-Payne, Joe Barratt, Zak Rush, Reece Barraclough, Nathan Donaldson, George Sutcliffe, Oscar Rowe

My thanks to Neal Mallinson and Simon Donaldson for running the team on the pitch and to Mark Barrett for scoring the second game and awarding the man of matches, effort and tagger awards in both games. Thanks again to all the parents for an excellent turnout and for spending the morning ankle deep in mud.

Under 9's The Raiders
Old Rishworthians Under 9's travelled to Keighley on Sunday to play an in-form team who won the Wharfedale Festival earlier this season.

Keighley 4 - 3 Rishworthians Raiders
Reputations counted for nothing though as the match got under way, with Will Symms picking up a spilled ball for Rishworthian's and driving towards the line to score. The Raiders then added another try through man of the match Callum Bell, who ripped the ball out of a maul, rolled and sprinted forward to touch down. Keighley got a try back before Gregory Day showed good upper body strength to bulldoze his way through the Keighley defence and take the Raiders into a 3 - 1 half time lead.

Cold hands and a ridiculously water logged pitch then took their toll on the young Rishwiorthians in the second period. A couple of loose balls were pounced upon by Keighley and some good running by one outstanding player levelled the score at 3 -3. Despite some solid defensive work by Kallan Jamieson, Tom Craven and new recruit Vinny Maude, The Raiders couldn't hold out until the final whistle, conceding a late try to lose 4 -3.

Man of the match: Callum Bell
Effort Award: Vinny Maude

Squad: Ben Riley, Sam Puddephatt, Will Symms, James McHugh, Kallan Jamieson, Tom Craven, William Hilton, Toby Muscat - Baron, Vinny Maude, Gregory Day & Callum Bell

Under 10's The Reds and All Blacks
Due to Keighley pulling out of our away fixture at short notice, Dave rang around and Selby said they would be delighted to entertain us. Selby, I kept getting told, are a good side and were on par with Sandal, so how would the Reds fair against such opposition. After a series of high scoring games that Rishies have won convincingly, today's game would be a test as to how we manage against better organised opponents, and a measure of how we have progressed together as a team.

Selby had two teams and were also entertaining Leodensians. The Reds first game was against a mixed ability Selby team, followed by a match against Selby A, and then a short game against Leo's.

Game 1 Selby B 0 - 55 Rishworthian Reds
Old Rishworthians started the game in sensational style with a try from the kick off. Jack Rhino Davis took the ball at pace and from half way charged through the Selby defence to put the visitors in front. Seconds later the ball was stolen by The Reds and was passed through numerous hands out to scrum half Will McDonnell who outpaced the chasing pack to increase the lead. Prior to the game The Reds were urged to pass the ball more and to be more structured in the break down. They took that advice on board and were ruthless in the rucks and mauls, and made break after break through their passing game. The third try came after Nathan Cooper broke the gain line and passed to Sam Bake who threw a great pass out to Thomas "Speedy" Sweeten who powered through 2 players to make the score 15-0. Sweeten scored his second moments later when he swooped on a loose ball in the ruck and sped across the pitch to score in the corner. Sweeten was everywhere, and a steal by him in a maul enabled The Reds to storm forward where Jacob Bower dived over from close range. Another stolen ball, this time in the line out by Jonathan Wheatcroft, allowed Davis to show his pace and stretch the visitors half time advantage to 30-0.

The Reds continued to press home their superiority with turnovers and strong tackling. Thomas Cockroft took the ball up to the Selby try line before being tackled, and good work in the ruck gave Billy "Whizz" Whythe the chance to pick up and drive over the line. The Selby team could not cope with the pace and power of The Reds and Thomas Sweeten added his third try when he sprinted down the right touch line to give Rishies a 40-0 lead. After some good handling in centre field the ball came out to Joe Sutcliffe, who had only been on the pitch for 30 seconds, and from half way he swept across field to touch down. Jacob Bower added his second after a solo run from deep in his own half. With seconds remaining, and with his father/coach screaming 'pass the ball', Will McDonnell completed the rout when he seemed to side step the entire Selby team one at a time before giving The Reds a comfortable 11 try victory.

Scorers: Jack Davis (2), Thomas Sweeten (3), Billy Whythe, Jacob Bower (2), Joe Sutcliffe, Will McDonnell (2).

Game 2 Selby A 5 - 0 Rishworthian Reds
After a ten minute break The Reds then played against Selby A. The match was to be played on a huge pitch and promised to be a different proposition to the previous game, with both teams fielding strong line ups. As usual, the Reds started with Jack Davis trying to barge his way through but the Selby defence held strong. Both teams were passing well and trying to run the ball, but neither side managed to impose themselves on the game. Scrum half Will McDonnell was tackling like a demon, and George Radcliffe and his partner in crime, Thomas Cockroft, were stealing the ball in the rucks and mauls. With Jonathan Wheatcroft and Davis continually testing the Selby resolve with big carries in to the heart of the defence, The Reds were determined not to be second best in this contest, but they were unable to capitalise on their early pressure. Rishies were stronger in the breakdown area and good phases of play brought the Reds to within reach of the Selby try line, but again the Selby youngsters managed to steal the ball and clear their lines. Selby train on this massive pitch and like to play expansive rugby, but when they did get the ball out wide, the Reds drifting defence met them head on and stifled their play. Sam Bake and Thomas Sweeten also went wide in to space to try to expose the Selby defence but promising runs came to nought. With half time looming and the tension rising, Selby managed to get their winger free, but another perfectly executed try saving tackle by Will McDonnell bundled him in to touch. Half time came with the game remaining scoreless.

In the second half it was obvious that Selby would play wide from the start and the Reds were soon pressed in to action with McDonnell making another try saving tackle. The game was turning in to a dogfight with the Reds forwards of Cockroft, Wheatcroft, Radcliffe and Billy Whythe, making big hits in the middle of the park. Selby responding with their own powerful tackles. Strong running by the backs saw Jacob Bower fly down the wing before being dragged in to touch and winger Sam Bake kept pegging at the defence with his little jinking runs. The closest the Reds came to scoring came about after strong driving in the ruck gave McDonnell the chance to pick up and set off across field. With the visiting crowd urging him on Will managed to gain 40 yards before being stopped, but his pass in the tackle enabled Bake to continue the play only to be tackled yards short of the line. After a big tackle by fly half Bower which put the Selby player in to touch, Davis made a surging run before giving to Sweeten who again was tackled with the try line begging. The Reds and Selby were both tackling well, finding space was difficult, and the game appeared destined to be scoreless, but fate intervened and cruelly ripped the heart out of the Reds players, coaches and supporters. With seconds remaining the Reds were solid in defence and holding back Selby 10 yards from their own line, but Selby managed to throw the ball out wide for their player to dive over and steal the win. The final whistle was immediately blown and Selby were the winners 5-0.

This was a game where two evenly matched teams wanted to play exciting rugby in a fair and competitive manner. Both teams certainly did that and were rewarded with a massive ovation at the end from both sets of supporters. The game was evenly matched throughout with neither team getting the upper hand, and in this coaches opinion, a draw would have been the justifiable result. The coaches are delighted with the way that the players set to the task and showed resilience, determination and character, playing good rugby throughout, and they should all be satisfied with their performance as a team and individually. This loss should be viewed not as a set back, but as a step forward, as we have proven to ourselves that we can compete at a higher level, and it will give us greater confidence for future games? starting with Sandal next week.

Leodiensians 0 - 10 Rishworthian Reds
Leos were wanting a short game so we played 5 minutes each way. From the off Rishies charged through the defence with Jonathan Wheatcroft and recycled ball came out to Cockroft who fought through a melee of defenders to score. Good rucking by Rishies forced Leos on to the back foot and when "The Bear" Wheatcroft received the ball again he wasn't going to be stopped this time and barged through from 20 yards.10-0 at half time.

The second half was very scrappy and Leos had one run when a player zig zagged across the field a couple of times and then headed for the try line, only to be unceremoniously dumped in to touch by Nathan Cooper. There was no further score in the game and Rishies were the victors at 10-0.

Scorers: Jonathan Wheatcroft, Thomas Cockroft.

Man of the match Jacob Bower
Effort award Thomas Cockroft
Tackle award Will McDonnell

Under 11/12's
We had a good turn out on Sunday again but I think a few of them wished they had stayed in bed when they saw the state of the pitch! There wasn't a green bit in sight by the end of the game and not much maroon & white to be seen on the players shirts either!

Game 1 Keighley 35 - 0 Rishworthians
However after a slow start in the first half from Rishworthians, which gave Keighley the oportunity to score four tries in a short space of time, the team fought back and really upped their game in the second half. Despite some excellent passing and tackling from Rishworthians Keighley still managed to get through our defence, with some really quick running, to score another three tries which left the final score 7-0 to Keighley. All credit to the guys for keeping going and not giving up despite the mud bath!.

Man of the Match : Ben Davis
Effort (and dirtiest shirt) award : Harry Hollingsworth

Click here to view Keighley website

Sandal and Roundhegians v Rishworthians

Minis brave Arctic conditions and play some entertaining rugby

Match report Sunday 1st February
Rishworthians parents players and coaches always look forward to the season highlight "Rishworthians v Sandal". So they travelled to Sandal who were hosting a 3 way tournament with Roundhegians. Despite the bitter cold weather there is always a warm welcome at Sandal. All the teams played some excellent exciting rugby so much so the parents forgot the cold weather. "Match of the Day" was the under 10's against the unbeaten Sandal Sharks. These games are always thrilling encounters and todays was no exception.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros trained his Sunday with a good attendance 17 players. Excellent turnout considerng the cold weather.

Under 7's The Young Guns
Sandal have a very strong under 7's squad and are able to field 3 under 7's teams. The Young Guns took on two of their teams.

Sandal A 6 - 6 Rishworthians
In freezing snowy temperatures, this game was the best the under 7's have ever played. Both teams were very competitive, confident, and skill wise well matched. Brandon Savage opened the game with 1 try, which was the wake up call to Sandal, who scored the next 2 tries, but then left it open for Tom Georgiou to run in a try before the end of the first half.

The second half was very even, with tries being run in by one team, then matched by the other, leaving the game with a 6-6 draw finish. Final tries from Rishworthians were from Jack Mallinson (1), Henry Hilton (1), Finn Sutcliffe (1) and William Adams (1).

Sandal B 2 - 4 Rishworthians
Rishworthians were buzzing for the second game, and ran away with their defence, which won them the game 4 -2, tagging each Sandal player twice the minute they had their hands on the ball. Despite their freezing hands, Tom Georgiou & Brandon Savage ran in a try a piece in the first half, and Reece Barraclough & Jack Mallinson the other 2 in the second half. Spirits were high for both the players and the supporters.

Man of the Match - Awarded to Whole Team
Top Tagger - Reece Barraclough
Effort Award - Whole Team

Under 8's The Destroyers
On a cold morning all three teams played some wonderfully entertaining rugby. Great passing of the ball, good timing of the runs and dogged defensive work all combined to make it a pleasure to stand and watch. This was by far the best morning's rugby played by the Rishworthians under 8's this year and showed what they are capable of when they play together as a unit.

Game 1 Sandal 7 - 6 Rishworthians
This was a great game. Sandal opened the scoring before William Harker twice backed up brilliantly to score two tries. Sandal scored twice again due to a couple of unnecessary Rishworthian errors to take a 3-2 lead. Kian Sutcliffe levelled the scores at 3-3 before Sandal scored again to lead 4-3 at half time.

Two quick scores at the start of the second half stretched the Sandal lead to 6-3. At this point heads could have gone down but Rishworthians showed a battling spirit to score two tries from Tom Stott and George Sutcliffe to pull the score back to 6-5. Sandal then scored again to take a two try lead at 7-5. Carrick Keighley-Payne then scored to make it 7-6 and with very little time left Rishworthians put Sandal under pressure but weren't able to cross the line before the final whistle went. A fantastic effort from the Rishworthians team.

Man of match George Sutcliffe
Effort award Tom Stott
Tagger of match Kian Sutcliffe.

Game 2 Roundhegians 4 - 5 Rishworthians
Another fine game with plenty of fine passing moves especially from the Roundhegians team who threw the ball about at ease. In response the Rishworthians team tagged their hearts out to prevent the opposition from scoring. In the end it was the strength of the tagging which won Rishworthians the game. Rishworthians tries came from Tom Stott 2, and one apiece from George Sutcliffe, Kian Sutcliffe and Carrick Keighley Payne. The last try from Carrick was a cracker coming from a free pass, followed by a miss move and then a fine run and a fantastic off load from Kian to put Carrick in at the corner.

Man of match Tom Stott
Tagger of match Corey White
Effort award Carrick Keighley-Payne

Squad Tom Stott, William Harker, Daniel Haigh, Kian Sutcliffe, Carrick Keighley-Payne, Toby Helm, Zak Rush, George Sutcliffe, Corey White, Joe Barrett

Under 9's The Raiders
The Rishworthian Raiders travelled to Sandal RUFC recently to play a triangular match along with Roundhegians.

Game 2 Sandal 2 - 3 Rishworthians Raiders
The Raiders had never beaten Sandal over the past 3 seasons but a superb team effort saw Rishworthians winning 3 - 2, with tries from Will Symms, Toby Muscat-Baron and Callum Bell. This was the Raiders best performance of the season by some margin, with the whole team tackling, rucking and mauling with real commitment.

Game 2 Roundhegians 4 - 1 Rishworthians Raiders
Jubilant but exhausted after this brilliant result, the Raiders then had to go straight back out and play against Roundhegians. Unfortunately the extra rest that Roundhegians had had between games really showed, and the Raiders didn't have enough left in the tank to prevent the opposition form scoring 4 tries. Kallan Jamieson managed to get on the score sheet for Rishworthians though, picking up a loose ball and making one of his trademark breaks down the wing to make the final score 4 - 1 in Roundhegians favour.

Man of the Match: Will Symms
Effort Award: Sam Puddephatt & Toby Muscat-Baron

Under 10's The Reds and All Blacks
The Old Rishworthian under 10 travelling caravan were away again this weekend, this time heading down the M1 to a chilly Sandal for a 3 way tournament with Roundhegians. We received an e-mail this week from the very likeable Kevin Davey at Sandal informing us that their under 10's Sharks were without several members of the squad for this match. Was this a cunning ploy?, maybe a ruse to give Rishies a sense of false confidence?, or a pre-emptive excuse in case the result went against them?. No the Sandal match reporter (see report) explains all. In any case the Reds players were not privy to this information and were told to play their normal game. This is the game of the season both teams eagerly await and the Reds were determined to bounce back from the disappointment at Selby last week. The first game was against the formidable Sandal Sharks, with the replacements from both teams forming a Barbarians team to play Roundhegians.

Game 1 Sandal 10 - 15 Rishworthians Reds
Old Rishworthian under 10's have come on leaps and bounds since the corresponding fixture last season when Sandal outplayed the Reds. We would have to be on our metal to scupper the Sharks this week. Sandal began the game with purpose, and with some woeful tackling from the visitors, they came close to the Reds try line. They seemed destined to score but for a last gasp try saving tackle from Will McDonnell bringing the Sandal player down as he dived for the line. Sandal did manage to open the scoring, when, after a sustained attacking phase, they managed to force over.

This setback kick started the Reds in to action. Good phases of play took Rishies to the Sandal line forcing the home team in goal where Sam Bake brought down the Sandal player. Jonathan Wheatcroft ran on to the resulting free pass but was held up just short of the line. Rishies were now in the mood and were more positive and playing with a sense of urgency. Aggressive tackling by Charlotte Siddall and Jacob Bower, harrying in the rucks by George Radcliffe and Thomas Cockroft, saw the Reds camped near the opposition try line. Unfortunately they couldn't turn possession in to points and half time came with Sandal leading 5-0.

Sandal are a well drilled unit and looked good moving forward with crisp passing, but the Reds, dogged and ferocious in the tackle, stopped the home team in their tracks. Rishies were also making attacking forays of their own with Sam Bake and Will McDonnell penetrating the defence with dazzling runs. Alternatively Jonathan Wheatcroft and Jack Davis used their size and strength to batter the defence with some powerful running. Thomas Sweeten showed his speed and strength before releasing 'Rhino' Davis who charged through the defence to the try line, but unfortunately the ball was knocked out of his grasp before he managed to touch down. A Rishies try was on the cards and when it did come it was well deserved. Sustained pressure was rewarded with a scrum to the Reds. Scrum half McDonnell sent Davis charging forward again, and when he was tackled feet from the line, hooker Thomas Cockroft stretched out an arm from the ruck and planted the ball on the line to level the score.

Against the run of play, Sandal managed to retake the lead, but the Reds hit back. Will 'Dodger' McDonnell covered half the pitch before offloading in the tackle to Davis who crashed over. The Reds were now sensing the win. McDonnell took out his opposite scrum half at the scrum causing him to drop the ball. Will picked up and dived for the line but was held short. The ball was carried over the line by the Reds but Sandal's defence held strong and the ball ended up buried under a pile of bodies. From the 5 metre scrum, Davis received the ball again from McDonnell, and bounced off two defenders to score the winning try.

Both teams played great rugby in a tense and thrilling encounter that had both sets of supporters on tenterhooks until the end. A tremendous, well deserved victory over our friendly rivals and a memorable scalp to add to our collection. The celebrations by the players and supporters at the end of the game shows what this win means to the development of the team.

Man of match Will 'Artful Dodger' McDonnell
Effort award Sam'Sizzler' Bake
Tackle award George 'Ripper'Radcliffe

Game 2 Roundhegians 0 - 65 Rishworthians Reds
After the nervous tension of the Sandal game, Rishies threw off the shackles and played some free flowing rugby against Roundhegians, scoring 13 tries in the process. From the kick off ' The Bear' Wheatcroft took the ball to the opposition line, and from the ruck, out popped Ollie Swales to nip over the line. A turn over ball deep in Reds territory allowed Thomas Sweeten to sweep across field to score in the corner. A third soon came when Wheatcroft barged his way through from half way. Roundhegians could not cope with the Reds physicality and Wheatcroft forced his way over from a penalty near the line. Thomas Sweeten added his second and, with half time approaching Jacob 'JB' Bower gave a superb pass from the ground to Nathan Cooper who jinked through 2 players to score, making it 30-0 to Rishies at half time.

Will McDonnell came back on at scrum half and with his first touch of the ball he sped down the left wing to score. Constant Reds pressure forced Roundhegians back and a wildly thrown pass went bobbling over the try line which Sam Bake pounced on to increase the lead to 40-0. Rishies were now cruising and with two side steps on half way 'Dodger' McDonnell left the defence in his wake to score. George Radcliffe scored a great solo try when he weaved his way around a number of Roundhegian players to stroll over. McDonnell scored his hat trick try when he carved his way through a gap to outpace the chasing pack. The next try went to Jack Davis after he typically knocked 4 defenders out of his way, and the try that caused the most celebration was the final try of the match. After a great tackling display around the pitch throughout the game, Charlotte Siddall found herself, ball in hand, on the Roundhegian try line. With help from her team mates she was bundled over the line and, after what seemed an age, managed to plant the ball down. The sideline erupted and Rishies had won 65-0.

Scorers: Will McDonnell (3), Ollie Swales, Thomas Sweeten (2), Jonathan Wheatcroft (2), Nathan Cooper, Sam Bake, George Radcliffe, Jack Davis, Charlotte Siddall.

Man of match Charlotte Siddall
Effort award Lewis Hilton
Tackle award Nathan Cooper

Click here to view Sandal website

Rishworthians v Skipton

Minis perform well against Skipton

Match report Sunday 22nd February
At last some dry weather allowing the pitches to dry out and to be in perfect condition. Copley was almost "sub tropical" compared to weeks of near freezing temperatures and boggy pitches. The parents anticipating some good running rugby were not disappointed.

Click here to view Skipton website

Rishworthians v Brodleians

Rishworthians and Brodleians serve up an exciting mornings rugby

Match report Sunday 1st March
Another week of dry weather and the pitches were in perfect condition for running rugby. Both sides did not disappoint the parents who were treated to some top quality mini rugby. A great advert for mini rugby in Halifax

Click here to view Brodleians website

Rishworthians v Huddersfield

Under 7's, 8's and 10's win but the under 9's and 11/12's lost

Match report Sunday 15th and 22nd March
Last week the under 10's and under 11/12's played Huddersfield and this Sunday it was the turn of the under 7's, 8's and 9's. The fixture was split over 2 weeks with Huddersfield running their minis festival over the same two weeks. The under 10's and under 11/12's squads trained.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros trained his Sunday with a good attendance 17 players.

Click here to view Huddersfield website

Rishworthians v Sandal v Brods and u10's at Doncaster

Clean sweep for the minis

Match report Sunday 29th March
A glorious sunny morning at Copley and perfect conditions under foot Rishworthians welcomed Sandal and Brodleians minis for a return fixture. Sandal were unable to bring all their age groups due to being involved in Central district festival and the Yorkshire cup. The under 7's and under 9's played Sandal, the under 8's played Brodleians while the under 10's travelled to Doncaster. The micros, and under 11/12's squads trained.

There was some excellent rugby and the minis and juniors recorded a clean sweep winning every game!!! Well done everyone.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros trained his Sunday with a good attendance 17 players.

Click here to view Sandal website

Click here to view Doncaster website

Click here to view Sudbury website

Click here to view Rotherham Titans juniors website

Wharfedale v Rishworthians

Minis brave Arctic conditions and play some entertaining rugby

Match report Sunday 5th April
Rishworthians parents players and coaches always look forward to the trip to Wharfedale on a spring morning in March. However the weather was very un spring like today.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros trained his Sunday with a good attendance 17 players. Excellent turnout considerng the cold weather.

Click here to view Wharfedale website

Rishworthians at Harrogate and Scarborough Festivals

Under 7's and 10's triumph at Festivals

Festival report Sunday 19th April
Rishworthians excellent festival record continues. Last season they came away from Moortown and Huddersfield festivals with trophies and this season they have already won the Doncaster festival.

Under 6's The Micros
The micros held a training session at Copley.

Huddrsfield YMCA V Keighley v Rishworthians

Another excellent season comes to a close

Match report Sunday 26th April
Rishworthians were scheduled to play in a three way festival with Bramley Phoenix and Yarnbury but fixture was cancelled. Near neighbours Huddersfield YMCA came to the rescue and invited us to their end of season games and post match fun session with Keighley. A big thank you to Huddersfield YMCA