U7s & U8's Reports
Wetherby RUFC U8s v Old Leodensians and Moortown.
Wetherby RUFC U8's first fixture of the new year was a two-way tie at home against Old Leodensians and Moortown. The match against Leos started well with William Gomersall scoring almost directly from the kick off and the score remained 1-0 to Wetherby until the second half when Leos managed to equalise. Robust defending from both sides resulted in a final score of Wetherby 1, Leos 1.
The game against Moortown was more free-flowing although still tight with the scoreline at half-time 2-3 to the visitors, Wetherby's tries coming from Man of the Morning William Gomersall and George Stocker. The second half saw some excellent running and support play from the hosts with Devdan Patel scoring twice and George Stocker once more. Final score Wetherby 5, Moortown 4.
Wetherby U8s v Yarnbury, Sunday 3rd December 2006.
Wetherby U8' s played two closely thought games narrowly losing out to Yarnbury in both. The visitors scored first before Thomas Townsend evened the score, Yarnbury crossed the line a further three occasions before George Stocker go one back for Wetherby just before half time. The home team started the second half more lively with George Heaton opening the scoring. Further tries from Natham Woods, George Stocker and Robert Dunham were not enough to win the match with Wetherby losing out 6 - 8.
A strong talking to from the coach further raised Wetherby's performance in the second match, with George Stocker opening the scoring after a good run out of defence from George Heaton. Yarnbury got one back before Thomas Townsend squeezed over in the corner to round off an excellent passage of play and a good first half for Wetherby. Yarnbury scored quickly in the second half before Alexander Smith crashed over in the corner to restore the lead. Two quick tries from Yarnbury caught Wetherby knapping and having to come from behind for the first time in the match. Will Gomersall lead the fight back with a trade mark run before George Stocker finished the move and went over for his second try. A further two tries from Yarnbury again left Wetherby chasing the game with George Stocker crossing the line in the final seconds for his third try and sealing his Man of the Morning Award with five tries in total. Wetherby narrowly losing out 5 - 6.
November 19th
Wetherby U8s took part in the Central District round of the Yorkshire Cup at Aireborough RUFC but didn't do themselves justice, losing all three of their fixtures. As usual they started slowly, going down 6-3 to the hosts in their first match with tries from William Gomersall, Devdan Patel and Alexander Smith. In their second match they lost 5-2 to Otley after going into the break 4-1 down, with scores from Harvey Wiggett and Patel. And in their final tie they lost 4-2 to West Park Leeds, George Heaton and Patel touching down in a much more close fought match.
29th October U8s v Otley & Ilkley.
Wetherby U8s travelled to Otley for a rewarding morning's rugby with ties against both the hosts and Ilkley RUFC. In their first game Wetherby took the lead versus Ilkley with tries from Devdan Patel and Harvey Wiggett before Ilkley got one back, leaving the half-time score 2-1. In the second half Ilkley scored twice more before two tries from Thomas Townsend, another from Devdan Patel and some stout defending allowed Wetherby to finally settle the match 5-3 up.
The game against Otley was a closer affair characterised by some aggressive defending from both sides. Wetherby took the lead with a Devdan Patel try before the hosts struck back. After the break Otley took the lead but some persistent Wetherby attacking allowed Wetherby Man of the Match Devdan Patel another touchdown. Wetherby continued to press and were unlucky not to score a winner and can consider themselves extremely unlucky that Otley managed a breakaway try as the last move of the match leaving the final score Otley 3, Wetherby 2.
14th October, U8s v Ilkley
Wetherby U8s' first away tie of the season was a series of three matches at Ilkley resulting in one loss and two wins. In the first game, Wetherby started very slowly allowing three Ilkley to score three times in the first half. After the break, the visitors woke up somewhat with a touch-down each from William Smailes and Devdan Patel and two charging tries from Wetherby Man of the Match Harrison Buch making it more of a contest although Ilkley scored twice more to leave it 5-4 to the home side.
Wetherby continued to improve in a close-fought second match with a much better defensive line and a try from Devdan Patel in the first half. In the second period George Stocker made it two with Ilkley grabbing a consolation at the end. Ilkley 1, Wetherby 2.
The away team's best performance was left for the final game with Thomas Townsend scoring four times with some lightning quick and evasive running. George Heaton also scored for Wetherby but Ilkley were only able to notch up two in reply leaving the final score 2-5 to Wetherby on very satisfactory morning for the visitors.
U7's v Bramley
Wetherby’s large U7s squad hosted Bramley RUFC in what was, for most players, their first ever taste of competitive rugby. In the first match, the final score was Wetherby 4 Bramley 2. For the second match, Wetherby fielded a completely different team. This game was much closer with the score Wetherby 1 Bramley 1 with minutes to go. Bramley pressurised the Wetherby try-line continuously in those last minutes but the Wetherby defence managed to stop every attack. The outcome was in doubt to the final whistle so a draw was fair result for two evenly matched sides who both played some great rugby. Try scorers included Harry Contreras, Daniel Dobson, Jacob Little and new boy Lewis Wiggett who was also Wetherby’s player of the morning.
