Yorkshire v. NE – 19^th March 2006 at Doncaster RUFC

The new U17 Yorkshire Regional squad played their first regional match against the North East Region.  The Yorkshire girls come a number of clubs in the region – Dinnington, Doncaster, Goole, Leodiensians (Leeds) and Sandal (Wakefield).  The squad have been training together since January and looked forward to this fixture with eager anticipation.

The NE scored early with a fast break through the Yorkshire lines.  The try was converted.  Having woken up, the Yorkshire forwards started to exert pressure and allowed the halfs and centres to run at the opposition, putting them under pressure with breaks and kicks over their back line.  The NE returned this pressure and despite some good covering by the backs, the Yorkshire line became under threat.  At a Yorkshire 5m defensive scrum, the ball fell loose in Yorkshire’s in goal and was pounced on by the NE scrumhalf, giving them another try, although not converted.

Yorkshire created more effective attacking play and pushed the opposition back beyond their 22m line. This allowed the centres to push through the defensive lines rewarding Yorkshire with a try by Charlie, charging in from 15m to score under the posts.  This was converted and at half time, NE led Yorkshire 12-7.

In the second half, the NE put more pressure on Yorkshire, keeping Yorkshire in their own half, although they did give away a number of penalties for slowing the ball from rucks by lying on the wrong side.  Yorkshire used their substitutes but also suffered a couple of injuries.  Eventually, the NE pressure told and they scored near the corner despite determined defence from a short range move.  This was not converted and Yorkshire still had a chance to come back into the match.  The Yorkshire lineout was working well, with Grace soaring to the heavens to collect the ball.  The forwards started to push the NE back towards their own half.  The Yorkshire scrum was very effective, winning their own put ins and some of the oppostion’s.   Suddenly, from another solid scrum, the ball was passed along the line to Alex, who sprinted through the defensive line and ran in a try from half way.  Unfortunately, this was not converted.  Both teams then tried to make further scores, kicking the ball far into each other’s halves but the match ended 17-12 to the NE.

The match was very entertaining for the watching spectators with a high level of rugby played by both teams.  Yorkshire’s defence was good, keeping the opposition from making only a few breaks through the line.  There was little between the teams and this was a good start to the regional program by both teams.

A special “Thanks” to all @ Doncaster RFC who accommodated both us & the ladies fixture at such short notice!