York v Pocklington U13

Persistent rain all night and all morning threatened to make it a tricky day for champagne barbarian ball handling, but shortly after leaving the changing room the weather Gods smiled down and parted the down poor for what turned out very pleasant conditions for the duration of the rugby.
 
A York team, still very experimental in the back division at this stage of the season, lined up for the kick off. From the drop out the York boys pretty much camped in the Pock half, but took a little while to break down a very large and very physical Pock pack. The recent training paid dividends as the York boys started to gain a strangle hold on the match by varying their play from the back of the scrum and the breakdown. The pressure came to fruition when Conner battered his way through to stretch out an arm for a firm touch down and York were off the mark. The York backs at this stage were still finding their feet with some good runs but weren’t quite firing on all cylinders. A few tweaks of position and it started coming together for them with Toby kick chasing over the top with Ben on his shoulder. Their quick thinking, tactical kicking and pressure resulted in the Pock full-back fielding a poor clearing kick, which Ben gathered up with aplomb to go over under the posts. Extras added by Connor. A resilient and determined Pock rallied with some pressure in the York half and a move of the back of their scrum saw them punch a hole through a somewhat surprised York defence to put themselves back in the game at half time with a 5 – 12 score line.
 
A second half saw York come at Pock down the hill and a now finely tuned York back line started coming into it’s own with ball being spread from wing to wing. Barney received more ball this match than he has done for many a moon and it’s only due to the efforts of a determined and equally matched Pock winger that kept him out, albeit by the finest of margins on occasion.
 
The York team were now really clicking, the Pock team were tiring and the tempo rising. The packs rucking was becoming faster and more aggressive and the York boys were varying their attacks nicely with good lines being run by Harry at fullback and the back row, Steele, Connor and Will K really stamping (excuse the adjective) their mark on the game. This paid off with a back row move from the back of the scrum, Connor broke, beat the first defender, took out the second, Will K backed up with speed and depth and slick hands between the pair saw Will K trample a startled last line of defence as he punched through for the first try of the second half. Toby added the extras.
 
York were now purring like a well oiled cat on all cylinders. Fraser was enjoying himself by dominating the line-out, (despite his impromptu one way interview - accompanied by his puzzled coach). The backs were getting plenty of ball with play sweeping from right to left and back again. This pressure inevitably became too much for Pock and Ben finished off another fine backs move, that left 2 defenders standing, with an almighty step to the right.
 
Will K closed the account with Pock winning their own ball won from a scrum and being fed back to their fly half just near his own line. A quick break from Will was enough to put the scrum half off his stride, the fly half freeze in the head lights and Will gather up and carry over for a final score of York 29 – Pocklington 5.
 
The final and best move off the match, resulted in a technical infringement, but none the less provided entertainment for a now cooing York crowd as the ball passed from forwards to backs for several phases, side to side and down the pitch, passing through virtually every pair of York hands.
 
Credit must go to a robust display from the York front row of Zac, Alex and Jay who held a massive Pock front row at bay and welcome to Fin who held his own for his first match for York.