Yorkshire Cup semi finals – Under 16 rugby

Doncaster 27
Whitby 10

Whitby made a long trip to Doncaster for a place in the Yorkshire Cup Final. The set up was near premiership standard with The first team pitch in perfect condition and the seating capacity was around 4000, but a crowd of 400 cheered on an excellent game of rugby. To top it all off, both teams were blessed with a top premiership referee. This was a final in itself with boths teams ferocity and power never let up in both halves.

Whitby had continuous possession of the ball for the opening 6minutes and a cheeky chip over the top of a rushing backline defence fell kindly into the Doncaster’s winger’s hands and he exploded down field for an 80metre try, completely against the run off play.

Doncaster replicated the same move soon after and the bounce was kind and they added another score. This spurred the young side on and Matt Dudman quick tap and go beating 5 opponents and scoring at the foot of the post protector made the score 10-7 with Sam Webster adding the extra points.

Doncaster surged down field and a few first up tackles cost the away side another well worked try for a score line of 15-7. Towards the end of the first half Sam Webster landed a long range penalty for a half time score of 15-10.

The second half started badly for the away side as Doncaster came out raring to go. Within 2 minutes of the restart the home side extended their lead with a flowing inter passing backs move. This try was the nail in the coffin but Whitby never gave in mostly led by Beaumont, Braithwaite and Dudman.

Towards the end of the half Doncaster completely put the score line out of the reach by crashing over for another try. To end the scoring of the day 27-10. The whole team played with aggression, power and pride and made Doncaster work for all their points. The away side had 70% of the possession in the whole game and the home side had to dig deep. The front row of Nesbitt, Ryan, and Eglon never took a step back, with the power of Cuthbert, Shutt and Braithwaite made life difficult for the home side. Taylor and Reeves tackled all day. The back line had their work cut out with Lenton carrying an injury into the game but still never gave up. Poor Sam Webster, had a cracking game, had a nose bleed before the game and never stopped until after the final whistle. Dudman, Clennan and the strong running Beaumont caused chaos when attacking and were brave in defence. Overturn and Hill were able to cope but had felt a little exposed by some of the power of Doncaster. Man of the Match - Jack Braithwaite

Overall, it was a David v Goliath match and Goliath won. The game was a credit to Yorkshire Rugby, played with so much pride and passion and the score line was not a true reflection on the game itself. After the game, captain Alex Beaumont – thanked his players for a great performance and more importantly thanked his Coach Matt Webster for leading them and being their inspiration.

This weekend Whitby play Malton on the showfield, 11am kick off.