U8s at Sandal Festival 21st March 2010

York assembled around 9.45 for a training session, the weather was glorious and we all looked forward to a great day of rugby. We weren’t disappointed!
All four of our matches were very closely contested with some excellent play by all our boys.
Otley
Our first pool match saw some fabulous defending from York on their own line and some quick passing after being tagged. Tries were scored by Toby, Oliver Z and Archie. The losing score of 5 (Otley) to 3 (York) does not truly reflect how well the boys played.

Wetherby
The 2nd pool match was against Wetherby, which again saw some great teamwork, quick ball and great defensive work. Again, it was a closely contested match which saw Archie go over for our only try of the game, but with plenty of missed opportunities and strong defence from the Wetherby boys. The final score line saw York beaten 3-1.

Sandal B
This third match was a high scoring one. The boys had really hit their stride and seemed in their element.
The tries came thick and fast, Cormac had two in the first half, and one in the second, making him our only hat-trick boy today. His defence and tagging was also fantastic. Oliver Z played his part with some fast ball and excellent defence and was rewarded with a great try. At half time, both teams had scored 3 tries with all to play for in the second half.
York worked really hard as a team and stopped Sandal from scoring on more than one occasion with some excellent defence on their own line, Archie bagged a brace of superb tries and Cormac got his third.
This was a real team effort that saw York victorious 6-5.
Leeds West Park
Our final game was against a usually strong opponent. The game saw some determined play from York resulting in 3 turnovers in the match after superb tagging; Archie claiming 5 tags in succession. Isaac G went over for York’s first try, followed by Oliver Z with 2 and Cormac again putting in a great running display and scoring another try in this game. With a couple of minutes to play, the scores were level, but despite some strong defence, Leeds managed to score the winning try. The score: Leeds 5, York 4.

Everyone should be very proud of themselves today, every boy had a part to play in every match, and it was a pleasure to watch. Even though we didn’t make the finals, it was a great day of rugby.
Cormac was the player of the week, for such a consistent performance, with Oliver Z and Archie having a special mention.
Well done boys! Here’s to more of the same against Hull next week.
Thanks too to our great coaches and to Jill for getting us all organised

Thanks to Vic -Isaac G's mum for this positively encouraging report!