Solid Start for Under 17’s

On one of the hottest days of another disappointing summer, when a trip to the seaside would have been an attractive proposition, it was Whitby that had to travel the ninety odd miles to Bingley for this first game in the middle division of the Yorkshire Under 17 league. And with a delayed kick off to allow for the long journey, it is not surprising that Whitby were a little slow out of the blocks. Bees took full advantage of this. Good pressure from Nick Gore’s lovely high floating kick off had Whitby scrambling to clear the ball. But their kick found Ryan Wilson who set off on one of his wriggling runs down the wing. A fine tackle 10m short of the line was in vain as Ryan popped the ball to a hungry looking Sam Jeffrey to finish the job and give Bees a 5-0 lead just a minute into the game.
Despite early sharpness, we were still being haunted by some of those irritating gremlins that creep into our game from time to time. At the restart the Bees forwards left it to one another to deal with the kick allowing Whitby to drive through and claim possession. Some good ripping by Bees was then wasted as we give it back in contact. But as ever, tenacious tackling by Bees was keeping Whitby at bay. A hopeful kick into the corner had Ryan Wilson scurrying back towards his own line. With no space to work in the simple thing would have been to touch down for a 5m scrum but Ryan somehow managed to turn on a sixpence, evade the challenges of two East Coast marauders and set off up the left wing. Good support and drives from Ex and Corey set things up for Nick Gore to chip to the corner. In an instant we had gone from defence in one corner to attack in the opposite one. A good jump by Liam Hagerty and the line-out ball was ours. Now it was Whitby’s turn to defend; they were up to the task and won a penalty when Bees were slow to release. However, Ex stole the ensuing line out and a neat interchange between Nick and Andy Nicz opened up a gap in the Whitby defence for Andy to glide through and score under the posts. The conversion took the score to 12-0.
This time Bees dealt with the Whitby kick off but some more sloppy contact play saw possession passed to the opposition. The effects of the long journey seemed to be wearing off and Whitby were having a good spell. More solid Bees defence with Ryan Wilson putting in a couple of good tackles against the burly Whitby “prop”/winger and newly installed full-back Jack Meggit making his presence felt. But a knock on by Bees gave Whitby a scrum, from where they were able to bundle it over the line taking the score to 12-5 at half-time.
Some substitutions at half-time ensured that all the lads got a run out. Despite the changes in personnel, there was little change to the pattern of the game. A solid catch and set from the Whitby kick off and the ball was quickly out to the Bees backs. Nick Gore made a bit of ground before kicking deep into Whitby territory for Matt Dilworth to give chase. Matt was winning the race for the ball but the bounce wasn’t kind and despite loud protests from the stands (“It came off his knee, ref!”) John Gray gave a knock on. More humour was provided when Whitby’s No 10 dived into the ruck claiming “I’ve got it boys” only to be denied by John’s whistle for any number of penalty offences (handling in the ruck and not staying on your feet being a couple that spring to mind). That penalty took Bees back to the opponents 22 and a neat break from the line out saw Nick Gore cross for a converted try. Another Bees penalty following the restart allowed Nick Gore to clear for a line-out in Whitby territory. A good take and quick distribution got the ball as far as Andy – a feint and a burst of pace and Andy was through for his second try of the game, again converted to take the final score to 26-5.
There were lots of positives to take from this first run out of the new season. Whitby were no mugs and they had their fair share of possession and territory yet Bees ended up winning the game reasonably comfortably. Our backs were more incisive and our defence was more solid. Time will tell just how much the journey took out of Whitby but we can certainly look forward with confidence to our next game at Malton and Norton in a fortnight. There were lots of good performances. Andy just edged man of the match for two beautifully crafted tries but there are others that deserve a mention. Ryan Wilson looked really sharp going forward and put in a couple of fine tackles; Jack Meggitt, great attitude and versatility, put in a good shift at full-back; Will Scrimshaw put himself about plenty as did the tireless James Exley. Harvey Craven had a good game and Sam Jeffrey looked energetic at scrum half. But the most pleasing aspect is that we have a squad of 22 highly competent rugby players, all of whom played a part in Sunday’s victory.
By Dave Butterworth