Defending u15s take on strong Castleford

After the storms of the previous week it was good to have perfect playing conditions as Sandhill Lane for the visit of Castleford.

It was the visitors who started the game on the front foot, dominating possession with disciplined pick and go from the rucks and making yards with each carry, after 8 minutes they had scored two converted tried and led 14-0.

A brief rally by Selby stemmed the tide on 10 minutes and, with their first visit to the Castleford half, the forwards made metres. Billy starting his first game as scrum half controlled the ruck speed, and seeing a gap in the defensive line passed to Joseph who broke through from 30 metres out to score and reduce the deficit to 14-5.

Castleford were straight back on the front foot however and when the half time whistle blew had added two more tries to lead 24-5.

The second half was more closely contested in the early stages with neither side able to dominate territory, excellent rucking and counter rucking by Kieron, Rhys, Batsi, Elloit, Jack B, Alex S and Lawrence matched the speed and strength of the Castleford pack and pushed back with drives of their own.

The line was eventually breached after 40 minutes (try converted) and again on 46 minutes to increase the Castleford lead to 36-5 but it did not stop the forwards battling on.

Two strong and direct runs by Alex S during a sustained phase of Selby possession took the home team to within 10 metres of the Cas line and after a couple of passes out wide Micheal dived over to score Selby’s second try and reduce the arrears to 36-10.

It was defence, defence, defence for the remainder of the game as the visitors continued to drive forward and, despite last ditch tackles Joseph and Zack keeping the scoreline down, Castleford crossed the line two more times (one converted) for a final score of 48-10.

Plenty of learnings to be taken from the game, mainly how to defend the pick and go and to make the first tackle count, as we are back in training on Thursday before a trip to Bradford and Bingley next Sunday.