Colwyn Bay U12s have returned from a successful three day tour of the Peak District.The squad played two games as well taking part in team building activities including canoeing,rock climbing and archery
Colwyn Bay U12s 29 v Matlock 20
Matlock matched their warm welcome off the pitch with a warm welcome on the pitch in Colwyn Bay under 12's first game of their Peak District tour. The Derbyshire side started off by driving hard into the heart of the Bay forwards and despite some brave tackling by Captain Seb Marshall and fly half Peter Jones, the Bay found themselves down by two tries in the first 10 minutes which set very test of character for the rest of the morning ’challenge.
The Bay regrouped and re-found their structure and good distribution from Will Opie at the base of the scrum bringing the Bays fast backs into play exposing the home sides flanks with searing runs from Nye Michael and Sam Earl. This created a strong position on Matlocks 22 for Joe Fisher to drive for the line from 15 yards to score a try with his trademark forward roll.
The Bay were soon back down by a further two tries as Matlocks two main big strong runners made good yards catching the Bay napping with quick penalties putting the Bay down 20 points to 5 at half time.
Seb Marshall rallied his troops into the second half and they came out determined to use their skills which soon created wonderful inter passing In the mid field with Sion Edwards showing great slight of hand bringing on Sam Earl on an angle with a reverse pass to score a wonderfully worked backs try.
This was soon followed by Peter Jones starting off the backs move with one of his trademark mazy runs putting the ball through the hands of Tom Cuddihy,Nye Michael and Nathan Jones and to Sam Earl Jones who was caught five yards off the line for a Peter Jones pick up to finish off with a well deserved try.
At 20/19 with ten minutes to go the Bay were running out of time and needed to gain possession to which Joe Kilpatrick at hooker took an excellent ball against the head which brought the ball back to Connor Williams at No 8 to be distributed cleverly by Will Opie to the backs from which Tom Cuddihy drove hard through the centre to link with Will Head and Nye Michael who was stopped close to the line.
The forwards then upped their game with Nicholas Young, Conner Williams, Robby Wilks and Sam Holt creating some great driving and defensive work which set-up position on the half way line from which Ruby Roberts ripped the ball from the opposition and drove strongly into the Matlock midfield to off-load the ball through the hands of the back row to Sam Earl Jones who used his pace and determination to drive into the corner to take the lead.
The Matlock team rallied once again and threaten to take the lead back. However, Peter Jones showed maturity and skill beyond his years to pin Matlock back in their 22 with top class positional kicking which caused Matlock desperately clear their lines with a long kick only to fall into the arms of a charging Sion Edwards who drove through the Matlock defenders to score underneath the posts. This provided Sam Earl Jones with his second conversion of the day.
Man of the match went to Peter Jones for an excellent all round game in running, kicking and tackling. Also for having the maturity to change the game plan to match the flow of the game. Well done Peter
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Colwyn Bay U12s 35 v Bakewell 26
The Bay turned in a good display to compliment the wonderful welcome received from Bakewell Rugby Club.
The Bay started off from where they finished the previous day with Will Opie and Peter Jones at half back spreading the ball wide to use their strong running skills of Nye Michael, Will Head and Nathan Jones and Sam Earl Jones on the flanks.
This brought pressure to Bakewells line and within 5 minutes Joe Fisher crashed over the line with his trademark power roll for the first Bay try.
The Bay were not to have it all their own way as Bakewell came back hard with some powerful running up the middle of the pitch from their forwards, which although repelled by good tackling from Nicholas Young, Connor Williams, Joe Kilpatrick and Robbie Wilks, gave Bakewell the platform for their talented scrum half to score their first try.
The Bay brought the game straight back to Bakewell from the kick-off where the forwards through a number of driving phases from Seb Marshall, Nicholas Young and Joe Fisher setting up a ruck ten yards out from where William Opie showed good judgement in taking his opportunity to match the Bakewell scrum half stretching over to score a classic darting scrum half try.
The game ebbed and flowed with great driving play from which Ruby Roberts showed her strength and pace by running twenty yards, driving through tackles and having the presence of mind not to hand off, given the home unions rules to crash over the corner for a wonderful solo try.
The Bay went into the second half in the lead but Bakewell raised their game even further and pressurised the Bay team who responded with strong assertive tackling, particularly from Thomas Cuddihy,Peter Jones. There followed a further try from Joe Fisher from a powerful forwards move.
With 5 minutes to go, Seb Marshall rallied his troops to repel the Bakewell resurgence and Sam Holt, Joe Kilpatrick and Nick Young were notable with their tackling.
The Bay put the game to bed in the last 5 minutes fittingly with an excellent backs move, going through the hands Sion Edwards and Tom Cuddihy to Sam Earl Jones who had the last word to top off a fine weekends display of rugby by scoring the final try succeeding with all his conversions in a perfrect kicking display.
Man of the Match was awarded by the Bakewell Coaches to Joe Fisher for excellent driving and ball handling work. Well done Joe, an excellent performance all weekend.
The Bay can be justifiably proud of their performance on tour in both games against Matlock and Bakewell, who were excellent opposition. Also the team conducted themselves to the credit of the club making new friends with some excellent rugby people who we hope to meet again next season.
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Pre-season training will commence on the first Friday in August,6.15pm at Colwyn Bay RFC. New players at this age group[ U 13 as of the Ist of Sept] are welcome to attend,see www.colwynbayrugby.co.uk for full details.
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