Hardy Souls wins the day!

10 hardy souls from the U12’s squad turned up to face Otley and Huddersfield in a triumvirate of rugby excellence down at the Hive. The expectant crowd were treated to a solid start from Bees against a strong Otley outfit. Bees absorbed early intense pressure with Harry “Houdini” and The “Galatico” causing Otley problems and putting an end to any potential fancy tricks. Nathan “Boss” Hogg made a great break to halfway, however the ball spilled Otley’s way and they made no mistake with some slick handling and aggression which led to them scoring their first try. The Beesman made a super tackle shortly afterwards, with George Fryers making a probing run thereafter. It was tough going against the lads from Cross Green, however Bees didn’t give up. Otley scored again with some great passing and support work. The Galatico made a super kick and chase effort to try and break down the resolute Otley defence, only for half time to arrive.
The second half was kicked off by Bees, and Otley immediately scored on gaining possession with clever distribution of the ball using the entire pitch. On the re-start, James “The Red, Amber and Black Engine” made a lovely catch, proceeding on his journey upfield, passing the ball amongst the eager support which in turn led to a well deserved try for Bees by the Huddersfield guest sub. The effort and pressure paid off big time and Otley knew they were in a game and not a jolly-boys to Airedale. Otley’s sheer size and skill led to try no.5 for them by their danger-man playing at centre. Bees continued to toil away with tackles coming from all quarters - Flynn and Nathan “Boss” Hogg were brothers-in-arms, linking together, the result being Flynn scoring a well deserved try as the seconds ebbed away. Bees were unlucky not to add to their tally and were camped on Otley’s tryline to the final whistle. 2-5 to Otley - great effort against a fine Otley side.

After a breather and pep-talk from “Boss Hogg Senior” and “Beesman Senior”, next up were Huddersfield. The game got off to a great start with Bees absorbing early Huddersfield pressure. An early scrum led to a blind side pass to the Beesman who fired on all pistons to scorch home for the opening try, 1-0 Bees! The restart saw Bees moving upfield again and an unfortunate high tackle (without malice it should be noted) then saw possession go to the opposition. After some dicey handling, Huddersfield managed to force the equaliser on the stroke of half-time.
The second half saw Bees adopt two Otley players to beef-up the numbers. The Galatico went off on one of his mazy runs and was hugely unlucky to get dispossessed in the ensuing tackle. Huddersfield were under intense pressure in their own half until a free pass helped them escape downfield. A Bees scrum then saw the Beesman linking up with George “Bite Yer Legs” Williams who pelted off only to spill the ball on his way - unlucky! Huddersfield then fought back and ended up deep in Bees territory, with the ball fortunately finding it’s way into touch. Bees won a scrum shortly afterwards in a game that was becoming a touch scrappy, with no side wanting to give in. As time marched on, there were late valiant attacks from Josh “Slowhand” Cottrell, “Boss” Hogg, Ismail and James. George Fryers was desperately unlucky to get bundled into touch after a fine break. That concluded affairs with a bravely fought draw, much to the delight of the spectators who had parts of their anatomy frozen that they never knew existed.

A fine winter’s day of rugby was played in good spirit by all - Man of the Match went to James and the Best Attitude award went to Harry W. Well done lads, team and coaches, and thanks to the parents for their resilient support.