Driffield RUFC U13 tour and Harrogate festival
In a change to the normal Sunday fixtures, Driffield under 13’s went “on Tour” to Harrogate for a festival of rugby and some fun and games for the players.
Previous tours have been as far afield as Leicester and Derby, so the trip to Harrogate was relatively easy resulting in a full day of Rugby on the first day.
The Harrogate festival had teams from throughout the country and is a showcase for the high standards within the junior game.
Driffield’s first game was against Harrogate B, who were out to impress their home crowd - the match being played on the first team pitch.
Driffield had a bright start and were soon in control of the game with the first Driffield try coming from Ben Glover with Harry Fenton converting.
This was followed up just two minutes later with Harry Jackson scoring and converting. Just before half time, Ben Glover again made a breakthrough to score his second resulting in a half time score line of Driffield 21 Harrogate B 0.
The second half started where the first had finished with a further try from Harry Jackson and following a great run from Tom Milburn, and final try from Jack Ramsey.
The full time score was Driffield 33 – Harrogate B – 0 – a great start to the Harrogate festival.
The second game of the day was against a Durham squad who fielded a number of county players within their line-up.
Durham kicked off and it was soon clear that this game was not going to be easy as the last, the standard of opposition being much higher than Driffield’s first game against Harrogate.
The first half was very evenly matched, Driffield doing exceptionally well, especially since their normal front row was unavailable, however this did not hinder Driffield with each play being matched, and some great offensive and defensive work.
The Driffield team played as a team with some great displays of fluid rugby and neither team able to break through.
Half time came with honours even, and the second half was just as closely matched as the first. Just before the final whistle Durham forced their way over the line to steal the game in the dying minutes.
Driffield were extremely unlucky to lose the game and can rightfully be proud of their performance against a very good side - a great performance from the team, but especially from Billy Hughes and Harry Easterby
The third game was against Stockport, and it was clear right from the kick-off that the Durham game had taken it out of the team however Driffield battled well, but Stockport had the edge on the day.
The final score being Driffield 0 Stockport 28.
The fourth game was for a place in the Plate competition final and was against Round Hegians.
Driffield had had some time to regroup following the Stockport game, and started well receiving the kick off into the wind.
Some good play from Driffield saw a breakthrough from Ben Glover after just three minutes. Driffield’s second try came from Jayden Campling.
The second half saw Round Hegians rally and claw one back, although Harry Jackson scored Driffield’s final try to seal the game at Driffield 17 Round Hegians 7.
A great result that pitched Driffield against Doncaster in the final.
The Doncaster game did not however go well for Driffield, and the lack of their normal front row, aligned with a full day of rugby, with some extremely hard games already under their belt meant that the normal fluidity, flow and drive for the try line was not there.
Driffield battled and defended well, and were unlucky not to score on a number of occasions, however Doncaster were the better side on the day, and the final score was Doncaster 29 Driffield 0.
All in all the Driffield squad had played extremely well during the festival, and all should be proud of their achievements. The day finished with a number of team player awards, covering the whole of the festival and the joint “Men of the Festival” (as opposed to man of the match) awards were presented to Harry Jackson, Harry Easterby, Jack Ramsey and Billy Hughes.
Sunday was a change from rugby, with both the under 13’s and the under 14 teams joining together and going paintballing just outside of York.
There were two teams, “Reds” and” Blues” – with the Blues being predominantly made up players and parents from the U13’s.
The Blues took a clean sweep of the games that were played, although it has to be said that the allegiance of team coach Mark Jackson has to be called into question, as it was suspected that a number of examples of “Friendly Fire” emanated from his general direction.
Mike Bemrose, another of the Driffield coaches (and a teacher at Driffield School) also suffered a little from “Friendly Fire”, although these appeared to be from more than just Mark Jackson – I suspect that some were taking advantage from the few times in life that you can inflict pain on a teacher and get away with it! – A great finish to a great Rugby tour - many thanks to the organisers for their hard work – it was obvious that the kids (and the parents) had really enjoyed themselves
Driffield are always looking for additional players to join in and have some fun - if you are interested then please contact Driffield RUFC directly via the website www.driffieldrufc.com
Words and picture by Paul Joesbury.