Meltham All Blacks
Match Reports
Sunday 18th February 2007
Meltham All Blacks Under 8’s – Away to Siddal
Siddal 36 - Meltham 34
Meltham All Blacks were fired up and ready to go, after having a rest the previous week. Siddal put out their strongest side and they were the first to score early on twice in quick succession (10-0) to the home side. Meltham found their feet with George Sykes Kenworthy who showed he's no slow coach scored his first, and converted. But Siddal were not here to make up the numbers and replied with another, Finlay showing Meltham how it was done.
Meltham were without Stephen Tooley, Jordan Williams and Molly Doyle, and at times looked tired.
Jack Clifford (player of the week) made great yards to make it 16-10, but unfortunately he failed to convert. Darren Walker (top tackler award) who seems to have come into some great form of late, scored his first on the stroke of half time after more good running from a much improved Siddal side. (20-14)
Ryan White, Jordan James, Carl Sykes, Lewis Bull (most improved), Tom Hindle and Alex Zatorski all had good games.
Christian Pestell led from the front, driving straight through the defence and looked dangerous with ball in hand. He was rewarded with the Man of Match award after scoring two tries in the second and having a third disallowed. Kenworthy went over for another, as did Walker, but on the final set of six, Siddal scored and converted to make it 36-34.
Meltham were unlucky not to win this but with most of the fixtures for the under 8's away from home, they have had a magnificent run of 13 wins and are not done yet. To see some excellent skills on show be at Meltham complex on Sunday morning when the under 8's meet Queensbury, which will be another entertaining fixture.
Meltham All Blacks Under 9’s – Home to Keighley
Meltham 32 - Keighley 22
Missed chances cost Meltham victory the last time these two teams met away from home, but with a much improved attack and meaner defence, this was going to be a much tougher game than the last.
Keighley had some big players who took Meltham by surprise and scored on there first set of six and when the home side knocked on with their first touches, the defence had to get into the game quickly. Michael Tooley made this happen with some of his best defence of the season, with Jack Evans and Daniel King matching him tackle for tackle.
All three players reached double figures with Daniel King being the top tackler.
Jack Evans got Meltham off the mark with arty in the corner which he converted to make the score 6-4, however Keighley quickly responded when they found a gap on the last tackle to score a converted try
Daniel king was the next to score a converted try, off of some good passing and backing up.
On the stroke of half time Keighley took the lead for the last time in the game.
After the restart, Cory McDonagh found space at stand off to step through a gap in the line and stretch out to score a converted try to make it 18-14 to Meltham.
Oliver Szlachcic had a quality game at acting half back prompting most of Meltham’s attacking moves and deserved a converted try. William Suchecki gave an impressive debut with a strong attack and good technique in defence, and will add a lot to an already good team.
Ryan Hirst also had a good game being solid in defence and looking faster on the attack.
Keighley closed the gap a little, but when Michael Tooley gets his feet going there is only going to be one winner, and Michael crossed the line for another Meltham Try.
Daniel King rounded off a Man of the Match display with his second try of the game to make it 32-18. With the game won Meltham switched off and allowed Keighley to finish a tough game with the last score of the match.
Trys: - Daniel King (2), Michael Tooley, Cory McDonagh, Oliver Szlachcic, and Jack Evans
Goals: - Daniel King, Cory McDonagh, Oliver Szlachcic, and Jack Evans
Meltham All Blacks Under 10’s – Home to Emily Moor
Meltham 40 – Emily Moor 6
The under 10’s returned to winning ways with a good all round team performance with ever member of the team contributing to both the attack and defence, to beat an Emily side on a very heavy pitch at Meltham.
The first half was all one way traffic with Meltham posting six unanswered converted trys.
Meltham got off to a flying start, scoring straight from the kick off, and with the All Blacks defensive unit finding the form, which had been evident earlier in the season, Emily found it hard to get into the game and made a number of errors which allowed Meltham to capitalise and score at regular intervals.
After the break, with Meltham playing up the slope and Emily becoming a much more effective defensive unit, the free scoring by Meltham of the first half was halted and the game became a closer affair, with both teams scoring just the one try.
Man of the Match was awarded to Luke Pogson for his outstanding all round performance, with the player of the week award being given to the ever improving Josh Kennett.
Trys: - Elliot Currid (2), Luke Pogson (2), Frazier Morris (2) and Greg Thompson
Goals: - Elliot Currid, Luke Pogson, Frazier Morris, Joe Townend, Josh Kennett and Greg Thompson