Malton & Norton RUFC U14 v Castleford RUFC U14 Yorkshire Cup Round 1
Final score 32-7
The U14’s having had an influx of new players this season travelled to Malton for the first round of the Yorkshire Cup off the back of a series of successful wins against Cleckheaton, Aireborough and Dinnington RUFC.
The game started with a Malton kick off and for the first 5 minutes Castleford had to defend their line as Malton relentlessly came at them with attack after attack. Every player stood their ground and played their part and Malton just couldn’t find a way through. The strong defence quickly turned into attack when some excellent rucking resulted in Castleford gaining position and a clever sequence of passes created space for our lightning winger Alex Stirk to break the line and score the first try of the game. This turned the momentum in Castleford’s favour and our forwards kept battering their defence getting the attack closer and closer to Malton’s try line.
A fancy bit of footwork from Sam Bosworth exposed a gap close to the line and he went over to score Castleford's second. A momentary lapse in what had been an excellent defensive performance and Malton broke the line to come back and score just before the end of the first half. They converted this try and we went into the second half with a small lead of 10 points to 7 and it was all to play for.
Castleford started the second half like they meant business and again some excellent work by the forwards pushed Malton further and further back towards their defensive try line. This time it was the turn of Will Kilburn to expose their defensive weakness and a clever step and strong running meant they couldn’t stop him going over to score Castleford’s 3rd try. Castleford continued to play strong defence, winning the scrums and ensuring every player took responsibility in the ruck when needed. Turning defence into attack again some great passing gave Harrison Tonks space to put his pace to the test and he didn’t disappoint leaving the Malton defence looking like they were running in treacle and scoring Castleford's 4th try which Sam Bosworth stepped up to convert. The momentum was now with Castleford and they continued to play some excellent attacking rugby with the forwards drawing the defence in and then passing the ball out to the backs who moved the ball brilliantly to get it out to Logan Clark who outpaced the opposition to score Castleford’s 5th try. The team had to dig deep and defend the line for the next 5 minutes but every player stepped up and took responsibility forcing Malton to make errors and in an almost identical attack from our forwards to the backs using their pace and moving the ball Logan Clark put the ball over the line for Castleford’s 6th and final try.