Bishop U13’s v Hartlepool Old Boys
65-12

After a long, but productive pre-season, the lads were raring to go in the first game of the season. With new additions to the squad in Riley Harris and Leo Helliwell, we had good numbers to take on Hartlepool Old Boys. The lads were asked to step up, to give 100%, to be more physical around the breakdown, and to play for each other.

From the kick off it was clear that they had listened to pep talk as they immediately took the game to Hartlepool, with some dynamic go forward, support play and controlled aggression. I asked them to stamp their authority on the game early on, to let Hartlepool know from the off that they were in for a hard game, and they were electric from the start.

The forwards, despite giving height and weight advantage away, were completely dominant in attack and defence. So physical around the tackle and ruck, and then dynamic in attack. A platform was created to unleash the backs, and with a bigger pitch this season, we adapted better than our opposition to the extra space.

Our backs were creative, supportive and bloody brilliant. Tries came from all over the pitch and in differing ways. Some amazing, strong, barn storming straight running, to some lovely passing into space, and kick throughs. Too many scorers to mention all, but the creativity, support and teamwork leading to scores was even more impressive.

Performance is generally more important to me than results, ultimately positive results come on the back of commitment and hard work, but this is the best performance I've seen by this team since I started coaching. A true team effort where everyone contributed and gave their all. Proudest moment of my coaching journey so far. So proud of these lads!

Man of the match could have gone to so many, but Riley Harris pipped it on his debut, with his strong, dynamic runs, off loads and tries.....amazing performance!i Olly Swords-Lee and Isaac Boyd got recognition from the opposition for their performance.

Play like this every week and we'll have an amazing season!