Coaches	Stuart Varley	01422 836466 07786 836069
	Graham Horner	07792 175222
	Daniel Brown	01422 831346 07948 336182
Denotes First Aider

 

Under 10s 2007/2008 Match Reports

Sunday 9th Dec 2007

Irish 42 West Bowling 32

Irish played host to West Bowling on Sunday with only 8 players & went behind to a try & goal from Bowling due to slack tackling but they responded well with Tom Fryer bursting thro’ & with Josh Stephenson tagging on the extras the scores were locked at 6-6. Bowling scored again with a well worked try, with no conversion they led 10-6. Jack Bruce was causing the Bowling defence all manner of problems & it was fitting he was to score the next Irish try when he powered his way thro’ several would be tacklers. Tom Fryer added the conversion to make the score 12-10 to the Irish. The big Irish forwards were making great inroads into Bowlings half time & time again even though they were playing uphill with Kieran Baxter & Bradley Rhodes leading the way, but it was Bowling who scored next when the Irish thought they had the player tackled but he slipped out to score a good try (concentration boys) the kick at goal was good & Bowling led 16-12 at half time.

Irish now had the advantage of the slope & used it to great effect when Lewis Amos scored a great try & Jack Bruce adding the extras - Irish led 18-12 . Irish were beginning to dictate the game now with the forwards making the hard yards thro’ Adam Knapton & Kieran Baxter proving a handful down the slope & the backs providing the jinking runs. It was Josh Stephenson who scored next outpacing the Bowling defence, the kick at goal was missed as it was with the next 2 tries scored by the Irish thro’ Tom Fryer & another by Josh Stephenson. This pushed the score up to 30-16 to the Irish. Bowling showed they weren’t going to lie down & scored 2 tries of their own & with 1 conversion they cut the deficit to 30-26. Again back came the Irish & with Lewis Amos scoring a great individual try, with Tommy Lovelady kicking the extras the Irish led 36-26.

Again a little lack of concentration let Bowling score again to narrow the gap, but Irish were not to be denied their victory & it was Tom Fryer who got the last try & his hat-trick with another excellently worked team try. With Adam Knapton tagging on the extras in only his 3rd ever game of Rugby the final score was  42-32 to the Irish. A great result for the boys with only 8 players against a good physical West Bowling side who played with 9 players.

 Try scorers for the Irish: Tom Fryer-3, Lewis Amos-2, Josh Stephenson-2, Jack Bruce-1

 Conversions for the Irish: Josh Stephenson, Tom Fryer, Jack Bruce, Tommy Lovelady, Adam Knapton

 Man of the match- Tom Fryer, Coaches award- Jack Bruce, Top tackler- Adam Knapton.

Sunday 2nd December 2007

Irish 4 - Newsome 24

Halifax Irish played host to Newsome at Illingworth & with the rain & boggy conditions, both teams were expected to struggle but it was the visitors who started the better when they scored 2 quick tries in quick succession to put the Irish on the back foot.  Good running from Jack Bruce & Connor McAndrew through the mud helped put the Irish in a good position but strong tackling from the visitors kept them out.

The home side suffered a blow when Connor McAndrew was carried off with a (later to be diagnosed) badly sprained ankle. Newsome got another try just on 1/2 time & with no conversions being taken the 1/2 time score was 12-0 to Newsome.

Irish started well after the break with Tom Fryer & Lewis Amos linking up well in the middle of park & with the running of Josh Stephenson & Tommy Lovelady giving the forwards a rest, Irish were getting back into the game. It was only a very marginal onside decision that let Newsome score from a kick on the last tackle to extend their lead to 16-0. Irish were never going to give up & got their reward when good build up play from Connor Brunning & Bradley Rhodes enabled Kieran Baxter to power over for a try. Irish were really hammering on the visitors line now with Tom Fryer, Lewis Amos & Josh Stephenson all going close but finding a good defensive line keeping them out. Strong tackling from Bradley Brown & Adam Knapton were keeping out the Newsome attackers but it just wasn’t going to be the home sides day.

Newsome got 2 more soft tries late in the game to make the final score 24-4 to Newsome in a game which was a credit to both sets of players who played in great spirit in terrible conditions.

Stick together & keep up the hard work in training boys & all the rewards will come with time.

Sunday 11th November

Halifax Irish 6 - Siddal 28

Irish under 10’s played host to Siddal on Sunday & got off to a poor start when Siddal scored an unconverted try.

Then, good forward play saw Kieran Baxter, Connor McAndrew & Jack Bruce making inroads into Siddals half time & time again and when Irish were awarded a penalty, Tom Fryer raced the length of the field to score a great try. With Connor McAndrew kicking the goal the score was 6-4 to the Irish.

Lewis Amos was leading the way with copy book tackling & with Tom Fryer & Josh Stephenson following suit, Siddal were kept out, however they scored an unconverted try just on 1/2 time giving them a 8-6 half time lead.

Siddal scored 20 unanswered points in the 2nd half playing the one-up rugby that Irish are getting away from, they never stopped playing to their game plan that the coaching staff are instilling in them & it will only be a matter of time until the team start reaping the rewards.  With a mix of new players like Jordan Kemp, Adam Knapton, Bradley Rhodes & Connor Brunning showing great promise & with Tommy Lovelady, Jack Bruce, & Kieran Baxter improving every game, they are now linking up more & more with the "gang of 4" Connor McAndrew, Lewis Amos, Tom Fryer & Josh Stephenson to form a formidable team.

Sunday 4th November

Selby 46 - Halifax Irish 22

Irish under 10’s were away at unknown Selby Warriors this week and were keen to come back from the long trip with a win under their belts.  They started out with some big hits on the big Selby players with Keiran Baxter leading the way & combined with good running by the Irish back line saw Lewis Amos stride in for a converted try.

Selby hit back with an unconverted try, but back came the Irish with Tom Fryer scoring one of his trademark tries with a jinking run. The kick at goal was good & Irish led 12-4.

Selby were not making any in-roads into the Irish until a well worked move let them score a converted try right on 1/2 time, Irish led 12-10 at the break.

Selby must have had something extra in their oranges at half time because they scored 6 second 1/2 tries against the Irish’s 2 tries from Tom Fryer & Josh Stephenson.  The Irish can hold their heads up high even in defeat because they never gave up with solid performances by all the players and with debut player Adam Knapton playing his 1st ever game of rugby league.  With all the players beginning to play with the confidence they know they have the future is looking bright for the team.

Team v Selby Warriors away 4/11/07 Jordan Kemp, Adam Knapton, Josh Stephenson, Lewis Amos, Tommy Lovelady, Connor McAndrew, Kieran Baxter, Jack Bruce, Tom Fryer, Bradley Rhodes.

Sunday 28th October 2007

Halifax Irish 36 - Meltham 36

Halifax Irish under 10’s played host to Meltham & with the visitors only bringing 8 players maybe the Irish thought this would be a walk in the park for them. They got off to a good start when Lewis Amos dived over for the 1st of his 4 tries after good running by Tommy Lovelady, both coaches agreed not to take conversions which helped speed the game up. Meltham hit back with a try of their own & that seemed to set the pattern of the whole match, with Connor McAndrew climbing out of his sickbed to score a try & Tom Fryer & Josh Stephenson scoring tries, against 3 tries by Meltham the 1/2 time score was 16-16.

The 2nd 1/2 was a carbon copy of the 1st with Jack Bruce scoring a wonderful try & Tom Fryer getting his 2nd & Lewis Amos getting a 2nd 1/2 hat-trick, Meltham showed they are no pushovers by getting 5 tries of their own. A good showing by Kieran Baxter, Bradley Rhodes & Jordan Kemp making his debut ensured a share of the match was always going to be the likely result. Some hard work with those tackling bags is needed this week in training boys.

Sunday 14th October

King Cross 20 - Halifax Irish 26

Halifax Irish played away to KCP in a return fixture from last week.

Irish started strongly with a mixture of some good forward drives by Keiran Baxter & Bradley Rhodes & then excellent passing down the back line enabled Josh Rickett to score a try in the corner.  Although the kick at goal was missed the Irish led 4-0.   KCP were denied a try by a wonder tackle by Lewis Amos who took the man & ball into touch with the line at his mercy, but they soon scored a well worked try & conversion of their own to give KCP a 6-4 lead. Connor McAndrew was proving to be a real handful to KCP with some probing runs & with excellent backing up by Tommy Lovelady & Josh Stephenson. Only last ditch tackling by KCP kept the Irish out. But Irish's old enemy of slack tackling let KCP score a converted try in the corner to extend their lead to 12-4. Tom Fryer then scored a wonderful solo try straight from a scrum to split the KCP defence & run 3/4 of the length of the field to score a converted try to make the 1/2 time score 12-10 to KCP.

Halifax Irish started the 2nd 1/2 like a house on fire with good running by Jack Bruce & the rest of the Irish forwards really hammering at KCP`s defensive line but good tackling kept them out.  They couldn't keep out Tom Fryer who jinked his way thro` to get an unconverted try. The score was now 14-12 to the Irish & this seemed to wake up KCP because the Irish let them in for 2 weak tries when the Irish defence seemed to be non existent. Thankfully both conversions were missed to only give KCP a 20-14 lead.

Straight from the restart Jack Bruce ran from 1/2 way thro' several defenders to only be tackled inches short. From the play, Josh Stephenson buried his way under to score a converted try to level the score 20-20. Irish were now on a roll & Connor McAndrew was proving to be a real handful to KCP with some strong running & 'in yer face' defence & with the all team looking for the score that would win the game it was Josh Stephenson who sealed it for the Irish with a excellent diagonal run to touch down. With the goal kick good it was Irish who held on for a 26-20 victory. 

A spectator mentioned during the match that some of the King Cross under 16's who were watching the game commented that they have never seen a team so young pass the ball with such confidence as our under 10's, which is testament to the hard work the coaching staff & players are putting in together.

Try scorers so far this season:

Josh R-8, Tom F-8, Connor M-4, Josh S-2, Lewis A-1, Jack B-1,

Kieran B-1, Bradley R-1.

Sunday 7th October

Halifax Irish U10s 34 - King Cross Park U10s 28

Halifax Irish played host to King Cross Park at Roils Head & straight away KCP set their stall out on the match by scoring an unconverted try after slack tackling from the Irish. They soon doubled their tally after good work wide out, but once again missed their kick at goal. Halifax Irish were now starting to get their game together & were starting to make in-roads into the KCP defence with good running by Jack Bruce & Keiran Baxter, but KCP scored an interception try & the KCP player ran 3/4 of the length of the pitch & outpaced the Irish cover.  This time they got their kick to make the score 14-0 to King Cross.

Halifax Irish seemed to finally wake up now and good approach play from Tommy Lovelady & Tom Fryer enabled Connor McAndrew to barge over for a converted try. Irish were now putting their game plan into effect & more excellent passing from Lewis Amos, Jack Bruce & Tom Fryer let Josh Rickett score another converted try to make the score 14-12. 

KCP scored again after a powerful run thro’ 3 would be Irish tacklers.  The kick at goal was missed again making the score 18-12 to KCP. 

Tom Fryer then took it on himself score an amazing try with a jinking side stepping run evading several KCP tacklers & with the kick at goal successful, the 1/2 time score 18-18. 

KCP were holding the Irish at bay after good forward play by Kieran Baxter & Connor Brunning. KCP were soon awarded a penalty try after an unfortunate collision in open play, yet again their kick was missed. The Irish hit back again with Jack Bruce jinking his way over the try line after more good passing, the kick was good to make the score 24-22 to the Irish.

KCP were throwing everything at the Irish now and only hard tackling by all the Irish players were keeping them out. Tom Fryer yet again split the KCP defence and outpaced them to score an excellent converted try. Bradley Rhodes then powered his way over (with a little help from his team mates) to score his 1st ever try and although the kick at goal was missed, Irish now had a 34-22 lead. KCP were not finished & scored a converted try after dancing thro’ some tired tackling, but the Irish held on for a 34-28 victory.

Sunday 23rd September

Halifax Irish U10s 52 - Guiseley U 10s 62

Halifax Irish under 10’s played host to Guiseley Rangers for the 2nd time in 3 weeks & started strongly when Keiron Baxter powered over for a unconverted try after good approach play by Jack Bruce & Kane, Davidson playing his 1st ever game of Rugby League. Guiseley then scored 2 tries of their own through slack tackling from the Irish. Tom Fryer scored wide out for Irish, but once again Guiseley hit back straight away with a unconverted try. Josh Rickett outpaced the Guiseley defence after being set up by Tommy Lovelady & Lewis Amos. Guisley then went over for 2 more tries, both were converted.

Connor McAndrew scored a good try but again the kick at goal was missed in blustery conditions. Guiseley scored again just on the 1/2 time whistle to make the 1/2 time score 32-20 to Guiseley.

Halifax Irish needed to start the 2nd half well but fell behind to another Guiseley try. There seemed to be a pattern developing in this  game of whatever Guiseley could do, the Irish could do as well, & Connor McAndrew scored 2 more tries to complete his hat-trick.  Guiseley scored twice more to show they weren’t out of this game yet. Josh Rickett scored his 2nd & 3rd tries of the game either side of a Guiseley converted try. Josh Rickett scored his 4th try to maybe give a little bit of hope to Irish that they could get something out of this game but Guiseley scored a converted try to stretch their lead a touch further, Josh Rickett scored his 5th try of an extraordinary game to make the final score 62-52 to Guiseley.

A game in which the Irish will reflect on as to do more tackling in future games.

Sunday 16th September

Halifax Irish under 10`s played in the CO-OP Rugby League Festival at Newsome on Sunday and returned with a very creditable set of results. In their first game they drew with Moldgreen 2 tries apiece, next up was Wyke who they defeated 3 tries to 1, and finally they saved their best performance for last to beat old foes West Bowling 5 tries to nil. Halifax Irish are recruiting players for all ages from under 8`s thro` to under 18`s. Any players interested please contact Vicky Macdonald on 01422 833923.

Sunday 9th September

Halifax Irish 24, Guisley 18

Halifax Irish Junior Rugby League under 10`s made history on Sunday by being the first team to play at their new ground at Roils Head where they played host to Guisley Rangers.

Despite only having 9 men, Irish started well with strong running from Jack Bruce & Josh Rickett, however they soon fell behind to a converted try to Guisley. But straight from the restart Connor McAndrew made some hard yards & Josh Rickett powered thro` to score a converted try. More slack tackling from the Irish let Guisley score another converted try. Yet again Irish hit back straight away when Tom Fryer scored after good passing by several  players, the conversion was added to make the score 12-12. Good tackling from Bradley Rhodes, making his debut, forced a turn over. Good forward running from Kieron Baxter resulted in Lewis Amos scoring an unconverted try. Tom Fryer scored again after a Guisley error, again the conversion was missed. Irish seemed to have the upper hand now & good tackling once more forced another turn over. Good running by Josh Rickett & Tommy Lovelady let Lewis Amos in to score his second try of the game, the kick at goal was missed again & the half time score was 24-12 to the Halifax Irish.

Guisley started the second half well & Irish kept them out for 18 tackles on their own line, until Tom Fryer produced a wonderful try saving tackle in the corner of the pitch. Guisley were losing the ball time & time again after strong tackling by the Irish team, noticebly Lewis Amos & Connor McAndrew. In the last minute of the game Guisley scored a converted try after tired legs & some niggling injuries from the Irish let them thro`. But the Irish held on for a 24-18 victory & after the game all the players received the man of the match award for the effort they put in.