U12 Barbarians Put On A Good Show

The opposition of the day comprised of Ormskirk, New Brighton and the host side Waterloo.

Lancashire Barbarians first match was against New Brighton. Both sides were fully committed, Jack Pinson (Tarleton) in particular showing his intent early on with a crunching tackle snuffing out a promising New Brighton attack that threatened to break through the centre.

New Brighton continued to push hard and were marginally quicker at getting to the rucks in numbers, winning them more ball, which eventually gave them the opportunity to run in a try. They could well have earned themselves a second but for Elliott Newell (Rossendale), forcing a knock on after a thumping hit when New Brighton charged down their right wing. From the scrum his side launched an attack from which Dan Dunham (Rossendale), charged his way up field and almost broke clear for an equalising try before being bundled into touch to end the first half.

No quarter was given in the second half, both defences holding firm allowing New Brighton to claim victory 5-0.

Ormskirk were Lancashire Barbarians second match and they started the sharper of the two sides pinning the Baba’s into their own half finally working a fluid move from the ruck to score the first try. Lancashire Barbarians scrum proved solid all morning and they shoved Ormskirk back at almost every encounter. One win against the head gave Nathan Waddington (Rossendale) at scrum half, time to dart forward into space and offload quickly to Max Howarth who finished the move with a strong run to equalise.

In the second half, Lancashire Barbarians forced the Ormskirk pack to retreat from a 5m attaking scrum but the ball rolled in their favour and they seized quick possession moving the ball speedily out to the wing to score a try and put themselves in the lead again. The last move of the match almost ended in a third try for Ormskirk but for a last ditch tackle form Rowan Hopkinson (Rossendale) hitting his opponent hard enough to dislodge the ball from his hands just before he was able to ground it. The final score Ormskirk 10 - 5 Lancashire Barbarians.

Lancashire Barbarians final match before the play offs was against the home side Waterloo. The first half saw Waterloo run in two quick tries as Lancashire Barbarians seemed to lose some of their tackling edge, although they almost managed a try when Jack Pinson worked a move from a long line out throw, just being tackled and pushed into touch with the last move of the half.

The second half saw the Lancashire Barbarians inject some fire into their play and Josh Beeken (Rossendale) succeeded in getting the ball over the try line only to be judged held up. From the resulting attacking scrum Josh, now as scrum half, was alert to the opportunity provided by another good shove from his forwards and passed quickly to Ieuan Dwyfor-Jones (Rossendale), playing at number 8, peeling off the back of the scrum and breaking the first line of defence before offloading to Tyler Johnson (Rossendale) who in turn fed Jack Pinson who on this occasion crashed through to score.

Lancashire Barbarians continued to pressurise their opponents, Nuri Stoner and Joe Starkie (both Rossendale) were fearsome in the centre of the field, disrupting attacks and steeling ball at the breakdown. Marcus Calvert (Tarleton) was frequently involved at the breakdown and having won the ball in a ruck he gave Ieuan Dwyfor-Jones another opportunity to steal through the Waterloo defence and offload to Rowan Hopkinson, who made further ground, before passing to Harry Rowan (Tarleton), who's strength took him over the line for an equalising try.

The finally balanced match continued at a fast pace, neither side wishing to concede what would surely be the deciding score. It was strength up front that finally broke the deadlock, Nuri Stoner once more dispossessing Waterloo in the tackle and then receiving support from quick thinking Jake Taylor (Tarleton) who took possession, smashing through a tackle and feeding the ball to his Tarleton teammate Harry Rowan, to score his second try and win the match for Lancashire Barbarians 15-10.

The match results determined that Waterloo and the Barbarians would face each other in the next match, for the third and fourth place play off for the Waterloo Vase trophy. Waterloo scored a try after a sustained period of pressure despite Haig Howarth (Rossendale) preventing an early breakthrough in centre field with a couple of characteristically courageous tackles.
Although the Baba’s maintained their dominance at the scrum, they could not quite turn it to their advantage and were unable to get the score that would have been well deserved.

The final for the Waterloo Cup was between New Brigthon and Ormskirk. It was not until the second half that New Brighton were able to breakdown their opponents defence and score two very well worked try's to take victory and the Cup.
A big thank you to Waterloo RUFC for hosting this mini tournament and all the other sides for competing in the true spirit of rugby. A fantastic day had by all.