Whitby Under 16's Rugby         Sunday 7th feb

After last years sucess in the Yorkshire Plate Whitby were continuing their progress in Yorkshire premier competition the Yorkshire Cup. Sunday saw them hosting Acklam in the quarter finals this was an eagerly anticipated local derby which always produces a close game and this encounter did not disappoint.
A heavy pitch was more suited to Acklam's blood and guts style of rugby than Whitby's more back's based attacking game. Whitby started on the front foot keeping Acklam pinned in their own 22 with some good running rugby from Whitby's half backs Matt Dudman and Sam Webster ,however, some staunch tackling thwarted Whitby for the first 10 minutes until Steven Cuthbert found a gap in the defence on the Acklam try line and crashed over for Whitby's first try which was converted by Sam Webster. This riled the Acklam pack and they started to control the game in the middle of the pitch and pushed Whitby onto the back foot, encouraged by their forwards sucess the Acklam backs started to get into the game until Matt Dudman got the ball and showing a couple of side steps ran in Whitby second try. But Acklam upped their game again and started to force themselves into the game soon they converted their dominance into a try encouraged by this  Acklam were now camped in the final few metres of the Whitby half and Whitby were adding to their own problems by conceeding too many penalties only some excellent defending especially by Jack Braithwaite who twice held up an  Acklam player on the line keeped Whitby in the lead at half time.

The second half started with a bang as Acklam scored quickly cutting the Whitby lead to just 2 points and there was everything to play for. The pitch started to cut up making it even harder for Whitby to play their running style of rugby,however determined tackling meant they were stopping Acklam from making any progress. The game turned into a defensive competition with both teams tackling doggedly neither team yeilding an inch. Half way through the second half Alex Beaumont received the ball handing off the Acklam defence he managed to score a try in the corner for Whitby, not long after this Matt Dudman scored his second try grounding the ball under the posts and scoring the conversion himself. Now the game became very one sided with Acklam pinning Whitby back onto their own try line Whitby had to show staunch defence but eventually Acklam scored a try.
bringing themselves back into contension. Whitby added to their own pressure by conceeding several sloppy penalties allowing Acklam to regain pocession in the Whitby 22 this resulted in a tense finish in but Whitby managed to hold on to their slender lead.
When the final whistle went both teams were on out on their feet having put so much effort into this close and hard fought game.

Final Score  Whitby 24  Acklam 17
Try Scorers  Matt Dudman  2
Alex Beaumont
Steven Cuthbert
Conversions Sam Webster
Matt Dudman
Man of the Match   Matt Dudman