Pete Moffat writes

The start of the new season for Selby U18s Colts (The Colts) was a home friendly against Sandal, a team who have cemented their place in the premiership. The weather conditions were perfect for a game of rugby with it raining all morning and clearing up ready for kick off. This was also a great opportunity for Will Stoker the Colts new head Coach to see all his players in action with 30 players available for this game. His decision was to play a team each half.

With kick off at 2pm both teams arrived early and went through their paces in the warmup and both teams preparing well. From kick off it was a nervy start from both teams making silly mistakes with handling errors in the first few minutes, but Sandal made a breakthrough finding a kink in the defence of The Colts and scoring an early try after just 2 minutes but failing to make the kick taking the score to 0 – 5. The Colts grew steadily into the game with some good decision making with the boot from the fly half Harry Kealey and a great chase from Ben Wood who caught and made crucial metres, but solid defence saw The Colts unsuccessful at this attempt.

The Colts grew in confidence with their defence becoming stronger and their decision making becoming natural through positive communication. However, with a try Johny May would be proud of Sandal extended their lead with a try in the corner with some fantastic footwork from the winger this time with the conversion being successful taking the score 0 -12. However, the Colts continued to improve not letting the score line get the better of them, Kacper Janus making 35 metre break before being supported by Xander Leighton who crossed the line in the 24-minute taking the score back to 5 – 12. Harry Kealey continued to impress with the boot making a 50/22 kick which resulted in the Colts gaining a penalty from the Line out and quick thinking again from Xander Leighton with a quick tap and go he crossed the line again this time with Harry Keeley being successful with the conversion levelling the score at 12 – 12. This score ended this way at half time with The Colts showing excellent resilience to bring themselves back into the game.

With the second half looming Will Stoker prepared the second 15 players for the second half. Sandal not having the luxury of 2 full squads came out the blocks flying scoring another try within 90 seconds of the restart and kicking the conversion to take the score to 12 – 19. The Colts felt the pressure of a Sandal attack for the next 18 minutes with Sandal crossing the line 3 times but knocking the ball on once and scoring 2 tries’ but failing to convert on both occasions taking the score to 12 – 29.

With the pressure taking its toll and an injury to the centre for the Colts this saw the return of Kacper who made an immediate impact running through the Sandal defence and crossing the line for a 3rd Colts try with the kick being successful making it 19 – 29 in the 60th minute. Again, Sandal found a bit of rhythm back in their attack and crossed the line a further twice both converting to make the final score 19 – 43 to Sandal.
After the game Will Stoker said the following “this was a tale of 2 halves, but a real positive for myself and the coaching staff to see what we have done in training and what worked and didn’t work. Lots to work on over the coming weeks but looking forward to the season ahead”.
Next week The Colts open their season with away game to Ilkley.