Rishworthians v Huddersfield YMCA


Minis in fine form against Huddersfield YMCA

Match report Sunday 13th December
At last a dry morning but cold perfect for rugby!!!. The minis performed well with only the under 7's losing a game. Perhaps the best result of the day was the under 12's win. THe under 8's deserve a mention, they have gone a year without losing a game. Well done team.

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Under 6's The Micros

Just over 20 Micros trained at Copley this Sunday, next week they host Huddersfield YMCA i a joint training session. Several micros just turned 6 are performing well with the Young Guns and gaining valuable match experience ready for next season.


Under 7's The Young Guns

Rishworthians Young Guns keep on firing at Skipton

In some of the muddiest and wettest conditions of the year so far the Young Guns stepped up to the mark yet again for a clean sweep of victories at Skipton.

Game 1 Rishworthians 13 - 17 Huddersfield YMCA
Waiting for report

Man of the match Bobbie White
Top Tagger Toby Laurie
Effort Award Emma McHugh

Scorers: Ted Grogan 3, Bobbie White 3, Jack Lumb 2, Jon Baker 2, Toby Laurie 1, Joe Walsh 1, Dillon Hilton 1.

Whites squad Joe Walsh, Rafe Donlan, Toby Laurie, Bobbie White, Emma McHugh, Noah Mackrill, Ben Collins



Under 8's The Meercats

Meercats unbeaten in 52 weeks!!

The Meercats continued their winning streak this week and have now gone a full 52 weeks unbeaten (last defeat against Skipton 13th December 2008). This is an amazing feat and a well deserved congratulations to the team and coaches for such a superb result.

Rishworthians 22 - 13 Huddersfield YMCA
The match against Huddersfield YMCA started well with Thomas Georgiou being the first over the try line for Rishworthians. Huddersfield kept up the pressure and quickly got one back in reply, and so the first half progressed. Rishworthians getting a couple of tries over the line and Huddersfield managing to keep apace ? not allowing the home team to extend their lead too far. There was some good backing up from the RIshworthian side and accurate passing meant that they kept possession when tackled. The first third ended 7-4 to Rishworthians.

The second half started badly. After a first try for Rishworthians from Oliver Brian, Huddersfield managed to get 3 over the line, meaning they were only 1 behind. For a while the watching parents bit their lips as Huddersfield continued the pressure and remained just 1 behind Rishworthians, despite tries from William Adams and Oliver Muscat-Baron. Then the tide turned and Rishworthians started to pull ahead again. The second third ended 15-11 to the home team.

The final sector of the match was very one-sided. Huddersfield put up a good fight but the stamina and resilience of the Rishworthian team was just too much for them. There was some good straight running through the Huddersfield defence that resulted in tries from Brandon Savage and Reece Barraclough. The Rishworthian players shared the glory and neatly passed the ball between themselves to ensure that all team members were able to get at least one try over the line.

Although the scoreline was impressive, this was not the highest tagging match this season and there were times when the home team let their concentration lapse and left gaps in their defence. However, they were able to retain control of the situation and the final score was a comfortable 22-13 win to Old Rishworthians.

Scorers: Thomas Georgiou 6, Oliver Brian 3, William Adams 2, Finn Sutcliffe 2, Brandon Savage 2, Reece Barraclough 2, Henry Craven 1, Oliver Muscat-Baron 1, Oscar Thomas-Rowe 1, Henry Hilton 1, Billy Smith 1

Man of the Match Oliver Muscat-Baron
Effort Award: Henry Hilton
Top Tagger: Thomas Georgiou

Squad: Oliver Muscat-Baron (c), Brandon Savage, William Adams, Finn Sutcliffe, Henry Hilton, Henry Craven, Oliver Brian, Reece Barraclough, Billy Smith, Oscar Thomas-Rowe

Alex Huggon



Under 9's The Destroyers

Destroyers now unbeaten last eight games

At last a dry but cold Sunday the Destroyers welcomed near neighbours Huddersfield YMCA to Copley to play two games. The pitch was still heavy after several weeks rain.

Game 1 Rishworthians 5 - 5 Huddersfield YMCA
Both teams tackled superbly in a scoreless first half. Early in the second half Rishworthians took a 5-0 lead with a try from Corey White but the lead was very short-lived. Immediately after the restart Rishworthians over-committed players to a maul and a break-away YMCA player was able to cross the line unchallenged to level the score at 5-5.

Man of the Match Corey White
Effort Award William Harker
Top Tackler Kian Sutcliffe

Game 2 Rishworthians 10 - 0 Huddersfield YMCA
Again it was the defensive play which dominated this game. Rishworthians had the better of the attacking play and man of the match Kian Sutcliffe touched down in each half to earn Rishworthians a 10-0 victory.

Man of the Match Kian Sutcliffe
Effort Award Toby Helm
Top Tackler Corey White

Squad: Toby Helm, Zak Rush, Carrick Keighley-Payne, William Harker,
Nathan Donaldson, Reggie Herd, Tom Stott, Kian Sutcliffe, Corey White, Matthew Tooby

Thanks again to Simon Donaldson for coaching the team, to all the parents for their support and to all the players for a super effort. Thanks also to all the players, parents and coaches from Huddersfield YMCA for making it such an enjoyable morning.

Grahame White



Under 10's The Raiders

Raiders edge out YMCA in a close match

p>Rishworthians 20 - 15 Huddersfield YMCA
The Raiders welcomed near neighbours Huddersfield YMCA to Copley and in a very close game chalked up another fine win on Sunday with a 20 - 15 win over Huddersfield YMCA.

A very close first half saw YMCA take the lead after some hesitation by the Raiders close to their own line. YMCA pounced on a loose ball to score and take the lead. The Raiders hit back though with a fine solo try from Sam Puddephatt who brushed aside several attempted tackles to sprint 30 meters and score in the corner. YMCA then enjoyed a period of sustained possession, recycling the ball several times and driving a rolling maul over the try line to take a 10 - 5 lead at half time.

The second half saw the Raiders players getting really fired up with much more commitment at the ruck. Connor Friend and Morgan Smithies were regularly first to the breakdown and cleared the YMCA players off the ball with great effect and George Wright put in several superb tackles. Callum Bell showed his strength to rip the ball out of a maul and touch down for a try. Nathan Hales also got on the score sheet with a tremendous run down the pitch with several YMCA defenders hanging off him. Hales proved too strong for the defence though and managed to touch the ball down to give Rishworth the lead. The Raiders final try came as Fly half Tom Craven received a pass after a scrum and cut inside. He found his way blocked though so cut back and rounded the defence to score. YMCA got a third try late in the game but the Raiders held on for the win.

Try scorers: : Puddephatt, Bell, Hales, Craven

Man of the match Nathan Hales
Effort Award Connor Friend
Best tackleGeorge Wright

Squad: Will Symms, Sam Puddephatt, Kallan Jamieson, Callum Bell, Morgan Smithies, George Wright, James Mc Hugh, Toby Muscat Baron, Vinny Maude, Tom Craven, Nathan Hales, George Ackroyd, Connor Friend, Kian Stewart, Patrick Smallman

Dave Puddephatt


Under 11's The Reds

Reds back on track

After the disappointment of last weekend the Reds had to get back to winning ways and did so in style with a 12 try demolition of Huddersfield YMCA at Hollas Lane.

Rishworthian Reds 80 - 7 Huddersfield YMCA
Rishies coaches made a few positional changes to the squad this week with Jacob Bower moving in to the pack, Sam Bake at stand off and Thomas Sweeten coming off the wing to outside centre. With regular hooker Thomas Cockroft unavailable, Greg Day and Lewis Hilton stepped in and did a sterling job.

Straight from the kick off the Reds had YMCA pinned back in their own 5 metre line, and sustained pressure in the rucks drew players in which allowed scrum half Will McDonnell the space to move right through a gap to open the scoring. Jacob Bower provided the conversion. The Rishies pack have been a strong unit this season and they continued in that vein winning the first three scrums against the head. From the third scrum the ball was fed out wide to Thomas Creasy on the wing who ran in at the corner. Bower converted. Sam Bake was the next to cross the line but his effort was over ruled for handing off. A stolen ball in the ruck allowed McDonnell to attack the YMCA defence before offloading to Bake who this time was not denied. Bower converted. From the restart YMCA punted the ball in to the Reds in goal area and a lapse of concentration allowed them to pounce on the ball to score. The successful conversion made the score 21-7. The Reds were in control of the game and with play taken up to the YMCA line, McDonnell picked up the ball from the ruck and dived over. Bower converted. A lovely passing move created the next try with a well timed final pass by Jack Davis out to Charlotte Siddall who managed to get by two defenders to score. Bower missed the conversion. Jonny Wheatcroft made his presence felt when he bashed his way through the YMCA defence trampling defenders underfoot, and he then scored from a lovely chip kick from full back Nathan Cooper, which he collected and barged over. Bower added the conversion. Good hands again from one side of the field to the other gave Thomas Sweeten the chance to score after wrong footing the defence with a dummy pass. Bower missed the conversion and half time came with the score 45-7.

Half time Rishworthian Reds 45 - 7 Huddersfield YMCA


The game was now over as a contest but the Reds showed a ruthless streak that is sometimes missing and the forwards continued to dominate the rucks, mauls and scrums. A long kick up field by Bake was chased down by the Reds with George Radcliffe making the tackle, ripping the ball and then diving over to score. Bower converted. Davis and Sweeten continued to make strong runs through midfield at pace and with the ball on the YMCA line again, Greg Day dived over only to knock on before grounding. The next attacking wave came from another scrum against the head with the ball been thrown out wide to Sweeten who spun his way out of tackles before dashing over the line. Bower converted. Another long clearance kick up field by McDonnell was again chased down and with YMCA under pressure the Reds stole the ball, threw it out wide through three pairs of hands for Creasy to score his second in the corner. Bower converted. From the resulting kick off McDonnell collected the ball deep in his own half and sprinted the length of the pitch for a solo try. Bower made the conversion. The final play of the game went the Reds way. From a line out 5 metres from the YMCA line, the Reds won the ball and from the ruck George Radcliffe picked up and dived over the line. With Bower adding the extra points the final score was 80-7 to the Reds.

Tries: Will McDonnell (3), Thomas Creasy (2), Sam Bake, Charlotte Siddall, Jonny Wheatcroft, Thomas Sweeten (2), George Radcliff (2). Conversions: Jacob Bower (10)

Man of the match Jacob Bower
Effort Award Toby Gledhill
Best tackleGeorge Radcliffe

YMCA arrived at Copley with only 10 players so a big thank you from the coaches to Jamie Highley and Jamie Smith who played for the opposition. I know its hard to play against your mates, and it does happen from time to time, but the YMCA coach and players were very grateful that they stepped in to make it a proper game.

Dave Mc



Under 12's The Red Backs

Red Backs record their first home win at Hollas Lane

Rishworthians 38 - 33 Huddersfield YMCA

On a bright winter's day at the Hollas Lane Arena ,Rishworthians took to the field with sense of expectancy for what they knew was going to be close fought match . Rishworthians sportingly agreed to play 2 subs as YMCA only had 10 players, a compliment not afforded us by many of our opponents this year but it made for a close and exciting encounter.

YMCA, several minutes into the first half took advantage of some very under par tackling by the team to cross for the first try which was then converted. Rishies playing by far the better rugby were soon back on equal terms with James Stott finishing off an excellent passing move to cross, Stott converting his own try. Unfortunately the redbacks took their eye off the ball again shortly after to allow the large YMCA forward to break several weak tackles to score one again, the conversion was missed.

Rishies lifted their game again, excellent rucking by George and Ben released the ball to Myles who released the backs , who for once span the ball down the line , James seeing Max Dawes clear outside produced a perfect pop pass to Max who dived over the line for an excellent passing move try, and unfortunately James just missed the conversion.

Once again loose tackling let YMCA back in almost immediately which led to frustration from the watching parents and coach Mick Bruce. From the Rishies kick off however Elliot Craven punished hesitation by the YMCA full back after he had knocked on , picked the ball up and dived over. Stott converting the try. There was just time for YMCA to run in another converted weak try before the half time whistle was blown.


Half time Rishworthian 19 - 26 Huddersfield YMCA


Mick Bruce read the riot act at half time, pointing out that although we were playing the prettier rugby it would not count for much if we could not tackle , he issued a war cry for the team as a whole to step up the effort and win a game that was there for the taking.

They took to the field and things looked bleak when YMCA ran in a very soft try ( which was converted ) it would have been very easy for Rishies to fold but they did not. The tackle count started to rack up and some punishing hits were made by all players particularly Ben, Jack Bruce and James . This reaped rewards when Edward Denham crossed the line after continuous pressure from the forwards . Isaac Heron , Harry Wade were now pushing YMCA back and producing turnover ball , from one of these Captain, George Heron picked up the ball and made a 45m dash leaving most of the YMCA team in his wake , a brave last ditch tackle by the YMCA fullback left him dazed as George crunched over the line for an excellent try. Stott converting the try left just over 5 minutes with Rishworthians trailing by 2 points , the sense of expectation of a great win was tangible amongst the crowd.

We thought we had taken the lead shortly after as Elliot broke several tackles to cross the line but dropped the ball in the act of scoring. The team, did not let their heads drop and in the next minute James Stott crossed for another try. Stott converted his try to leave 4 minutes to hold out. Excellent tackling and scrum work kept YMCA away from the line and a short pop pass from Myles to James allowed him to kick for touch and end the game . An excellent win

Man of the match George Heron
Tackling Award Ben Grannan
Effort Award James Stott

Squad Jack Bruce; James Stott; Edward Denham; George Heron; Isaac Heron; Max Dawes;
Elliot Craven; Harry Wade; Jack Hirst; Myles Smithies; Ben Grannan; Harry Hollingsworth

Your Reporter: Steve Dawes


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