Junior Colts not past 'SellBuy' date

What a great game of rugby today and a big improvement on our last game away at Wensleydale when we looked well passed our ‘SellBuy’ date. That day we lost Captain Swiff with a broken nose. After having an operation this week to re-set his beak he will be at least another 6 weeks out. Running short of players never mind captains, Ben forgot to take one step back with the others when we were seeking volunteers. However he ended the day with 100% record as captain. After a bit of swapping of players to make up numbers we got on with the game, most of which was played with 12 or 13 players. Thanks to Loz and James for playing stints for Selby, without you we probably wouldn’t have had any game at all.

Selby started well showing intent to run up the slope, there was a great early tackle from Ben and Ed as well as a try saving close quarter tackle from Charlie S. When we got the ball back we did good things with it, a couple of bullocking runs from Rohaan, such a shame he turned his ankle close to the try line, he might have had a score himself, instead he had to leave the game injured. I got a workout picking him up, think he weighs more than a frozen turkey, a weekly shop from Tesco’s, a Santa sack of presents, a barrel of beer and a Mini Cooper. Almost as much as Charlie G! Frivolities aside, eventually the ball was moved right, finding Flanker, Tom H who showed good pace on the outside to score. Little did he know at this point that he’d also bag a second, our last score of the game 60 mins later, also on a break up the right, this time showing strength to burst through a couple of tacklers.

Harry, after taking a break from rehearsals with Simply Red to play today, finished a series of forward drives laying a good platform for him to ‘pick and go’ from Scrum Half. That was his first of three today, his second came from a well timed pass from Dan to put him on a 60 metre run and his third from an 8, 9, 15 where he hit the seam nicely, reaching for the line.

I was impressed with how we passed today to find players in space, Charlie G, Dan, Ed, Daryl and Ben all doing this, and quite often it was speedy Centre, Tom G, who benefited with three well taken tries of his own. His second running up the hill from deep in our own half, slick passing under pressure through 4 or 5 pairs of hands was a peach of a score, probably our best of the season so far. Our other scorer today was Dan who took a flat pass from Ben on a powerful straight run next to the sticks.

I’d also mention Midge and James who both carried and drove many times today, offloading from the floor out of the tackle, Will who tackled and worked hard all game, and attempted to use the choke tackle we’ve been practicing to turn over opponents carrying the ball high. Daryl also made great return from Fullback, running a kick over back 60 yards, jinking nicely inside a couple of tacklers before pinning his ears back, caught agonisingly 5 yards short by some spirited Selby cover.

Really good to get our first win of the season, and to see you playing with smiles again. Thank you to our opponents, Selby, who also played a full part in the game, with plenty of possession and spirit.