Under 9s finish second in wind swept tournament

At the 11th hour (well, Friday dinner time) Rick managed to secure the U9s not 1 fixture but three in a mini tournament hosted by Tyldesley RUFC deep down in Rugby League country. Our opponents for the day would be Littleborough, who we played 2 weeks ago and had 3 very closely contested matches with (drew 2 won 1), Leigh and Old Aldwinians.
The weather on the day varied from not very good to just plain awful. The first outing for the team’s newly acquired gazebo ended in 4 parents scrambling to prevent it taking off in the wind then dragging the mums and dads across the field.  More pegs next week!
So to the rugby. First up for the team were Leigh, these boys were well turned out in their new, sponsored all-in-black kit. The match was a closely fought affair with the teams exchanging early tries, Thomas Leech getting his name on the score card first for ‘dale. After friendly words of encouragement about getting tackles in from Gary and Andrew at half time the boys came out with all guns blazing in the second 10 minutes. The boys from Leigh had some questionable tactics for the re-start, but they were effective. I must check that rule book for the legality of them – and we must practice them ‘cos they sure were effective! Ben Barnes and Jack Tracey scored the winning tries for the young Bucks to give a final score of Rossendale 3 – Leigh 2
Next up after a brief break were our near-neighbours Littleborough, who we had 3 close matches with just a couple of weeks ago. Now this team are really well drilled, have some big lads and a young lad called Jack who plays some fantastic rugby and seems to be in every bit of the action. He  has a bright future ahead of him on the rugby field. I think the less said about the final score the better (it was 7 tries to one, for the record). We were beaten by a better team today and there is no shame in that. Littleborough went on to win the tournament. Our players can hold their heads up high, they did not let their heads drop and continued to tackle hard and compete for the ball.  Jason Wilkinson and Ben Barnes both putting big tackles in in quick succession and then both carrying on playing despite taking painful injuries. Not sure who got our only try, from memory I think it was either Tom Leech or Ben Barnes. If I’m wrong let me know at training!
After refuelling on warm Vimto (other drinks are available but this was the drink of choice today) and shovelling sandwiches down (Jacko, playing, behaving and looking more like a typical prop forward with every game) the boys took to field for the final match of the day.
Old Aldwinians were our opponents and they had just had a narrow defeat by Leigh. These boys had travelled a long way and didn’t want to go home empty handed, and to be fair were quite a useful side. I thought we were in for a tight match and actually said I think we will struggle in this game. How wrong was I! These boys and Poppy were made of stern stuff, getting stuck into the opposition from the word go. Whilst the parents were wrestling with the gazebo the boys were quickly running in tries, first up was Tom Leech with a blinding turn of pace down the right wing, hitting the afterburners and dotting down in the corner. Not to be outdone, Ben had a strong run from his own half were he has been doing a fantastic job as full back, managing to cross the white wash and get his second of the day. Ieuan Bissell is back to his old ways, scoring at will and making strong, fast runs as he did every week with tag rugby. Jamie Boxall moved from the backs in to the role of hooker and seemed to up his game several notches, putting in some strong runs, good hand-offs(not allowed for another couple of years yet Jamie) and making some good tackles. Keep it up, son. Luke Entwistle is shaping up to be a good scrum half, well done Luke, keeping watching your dad’s Gareth Edwards videos for tips. Poppy Preece and Tyler Lusty stopped up to the plate in this game, both making valuable contributions in attack and defence. Cole Entwistle was probably the smallest player on the field out of all the teams but captained the side for this last game and marshalled his troops admirably, leading by example and putting tackles in against guys twice his size.
The final score against Winnies reflects the results that the Under 13s and U14s(45-0 and 70-0 respectively) had, we beat them 7-2, or 35-10 if you want bigger numbers! Not sure about the other teams results but these 3 age groups will be having nightmares about Rossendale! For the record Thomas Leech crossed the white wash 3 times in this match (well done Tom), Ben got a brace and Ieuan and Jacko grabbing one a piece.
Well done to everyone in what were very trying conditions. And the parents with broken brollies and gazebos.