Under 12's away at Huddersfield

The first ominous sign that it might not be our day was when one of our lynchpins, Tolly Lickley aggravated an injury warming up; the second was when it was clear that Huddersfield had a pool of 32 players to choose from and they’d all turned up looking to play against our Squad of 11! Finally, we were being asked to play on a full size junior pitch which on reflection was a tad big for a 10 a side Under 12’s match with far too many wide open spaces!

So, down to 10 players, Hudds sportingly agreed to 4 a 10 min sessions to allow our boys a regular breather and a drink but of course it meant that we were playing against 10 fresh pairs of legs every 10 mins!

However, from the kick off we were under pressure and that continued throughout the game with The Bees rarely venturing into their opponents half. In a fairly physical encounter, Huddersfield ran in 7 tries over the 40 mins, without reply from The Bees. However, the score did not tell the whole picture, with some occasional bursts from The Bees and new season rookie Louis Milner being bundled into touch after a superb attacking run when a try looked on.

So, much to learn from our first encounter including the need for a much larger squad of players and a real focus on tackling and holding positions, both of which we intend to put right at this Fridays training night.

With first match nerves now gone, bring on the next game at West Leeds on sunday.

Team: Luka Atanaskovic, Sam Bryan, Thomas Carnelly, Tom Deacon, Ben Feather, Connor Gill, Emilio Horn, Tolly Lickley, Callum McGinty, Louis Milner, Niall Turner