Wetherby 33 Leos 7 - Sunday 16th November 2008

On a bright, clear day away at Leos, Wetherby played their very best flowing rugby to overwhelm the home team.  As well as their usual strong rucking game, this week saw the U11s start to develop greater continuity in their game, with players offloading before contact.  Tom Stearn twice appeared on the ball carrier’s shoulder to find gaps in behind the defence to score.  Will Copley made good ground in the centre several times and Davey McElwee looked dangerous on the wing.  Henry Evans darted around the scrum and moved the ball wide skilfully, before being flattened in a brave tackle on the largest prop playing later on.  Callum McHenery was never far from the ball and scored the first try hat trick of the season.  The game ended with Wetherby running in five tries, two converted by Oliver Heum and two by Tomas Wright.

Wetherby 0 Roundhegians 0

Roundhegians battled throughout the match to contain a superior Wetherby pack.  The referee allowed the breakdown to become scrappy, stopping Wetherby using their possession advantage.  For long periods Wetherby threatened to drive over the try line – Ben Taylor, Ben Thompson, Ed Contreras and Marcus Cornelissen were all held up over the line.  Even ensuing five-yard scrums were scrappy, with scrum half Niall Robinson not allowed to distribute cleanly.  Towards the end of the game Callum McHenery finally grounded the ball over the Roundhegians try line, only for the referee, who was unsighted as the maul broke-up, to disallow the try.  The game ended in stalemate, a moral victory for the brave Roundhegians defence.
 

Wetherby 40 Ripon 10 - Sunday 9th November 2008

Ripon arrived bright and early on this cold, windy November morning and were first to score against a relatively inexperienced Wetherby side. Wetherby fought back strongly with Matthew Jones imposing himself on the forward battle. Scrum-half Dan Martin was crisp and accurate behind the scrum, and Patrick Daley-Dee looked elusive in the midfield beside the strong running Oliver Heum at stand off and solid centre Will Shuttleworth. Hard work earned Wetherby a lead of 12:10 at half-time, with forwards Gregg Barrington-Hirst and Alex Humphries working hard at rucks and mauls.

In the second half Wetherby eased into a comfortable lead with the strong-running Harry Johnson scoring a well-deserved first try for the club. Niall Robinson was a constant sniping threat to the visitors and Tom Stearn made ground down the middle with several mazey runs. Thomas Wright controlled the game with his long kicks from hand, also converting all the tries.

Wetherby 26 Wensleydale 19

Wensleydale were keen to show their true quality after a poor showing in the Yorkshire Cup last weekend. They started this three-way fixture by hammering a tired Ripon side by 40 points to nil but found Wetherby far tougher opposition, especially in the rucks, where the forwards repeatedly won turnover ball. Ben Taylor drove over to score after a period of Wetherby pressure in the first half, just reward for a dominant game in the lineout.

In the second half, Wetherby fell behind as Wensleydale put together some slick passing moves down the backs. But tries from James Megarry, Jake Wilby scoring his first for the club a second by the impressive Harry Johnson gave the home side back the lead. The last few minutes were frantic, with Wensleydale rushing to catch up and succeeding in causing panic until Wetherby regained their composure behind the scrum. The game ended with Wetherby well in control having retained their unbeaten home record.

 

U11s exit Yorkshire Cup on countback - Sunday 2nd November 2008

Wetherby U11s were unlucky not to progress through to the knockout stages of the Yorkshire Cup at Claro Road, Harrogate today.  After a combative draw with Selby and narrow defeat to home favourites Harrogate, the squad comfortably beat Guisborough with tries from Callum McHenry and Ben Thompson (2), all converted by Thomas Wright.  

As joint runners-up to Harrogate in Group A, Wetherby had to be eliminated on an arbitrary count-back of tries scored.  A strong York squad won the other group, and the league draw meant that Wetherby avoided forthcoming opponents Ripon and Wensleydale (who play at Wetherby on 9th November).

Winning Start against Thirsk

Wetherby 28 Thirsk 14 

After successful pre-season training the Wetherby U11 squad started the season with a well earned win by 28 points to 14 against Thirsk. The visitors had to field a few U12 players due to the size of their squads and one exceptionally tall player dominated lineouts for the visitors. However, Wetherby looked the better drilled side and rucked aggressively to win much of the loose ball at breakdowns. 

Ben Thompson captained the squad and led from the front, driving straight and hard. Matthew Jones was also a constant menace to Thirsk, driving into their back line throughout the game.  Alex Humphries and Andrew Hulmes both did well in their first competitive games for the club, Hulmes scoring the try of the match after collecting a loose ball and shaking off three tacklers to score in the corner.

Match Photos

You will need flash player installed to view these photos - if you don't have flash player - click here to get it.

Click here to open in a different window