Ripon World Cup Tournament success

Sometimes it’s all too easy to focus on results above all else but that wasn’t the message this week. All the squad were told before the start of the Ripon World Cup Tournament that if they focused on their skills, delivered what they had worked hard at in training then they had a good chance of winning all they had to do was believe in themselves and work as a team…..and boy did the squad deliver!

The Harrogate Teams, USA and England, delivered outstanding team performances showing fantstic commitment and effort. Both teams won all their games and finished 1st and 3rd in the Tournament. We were all a little surprised when we were awarded third place when both teams were unbeaten, but we all know that this isn't important as long as we played well and enjoyed the day.

The England team did not concede a try in a full hour of play, their commitment in the tackle saw teams driven back time after time. It is difficult to identify individual performances; credit must first and foremost be given to the team as a whole as they gelled further from the previous week’s performance to deliver some outstanding rugby. Eddie Batchelor, Fergus Lindley and Matthew "Moo" Leatham topped the tackle count with Fergus getting much applause for his text book tackling technique. Luca “Tank” Foster continued to gain valuable ground down the middle of the park drawing in the opposition to make space for Tom Wieland and Finn Wright to capitalise out wide. Luca Going swept up behind the tackles to distribute well and Sam Allison the newcomer to the team continued to raise the bar, his tackle count matching more experienced players especially in the game against Selby, well done Sam!

England after no defeats in the rounds made the final against Tonga [Ripon A] and after 14minutes of play the score was still Nil: Nil, The tackling was attritional with hit after hit from both teams preventing tries. Ripon at one point broke the defensive line with only Luca Foster to beat, the tackle was made clinically and the try was saved..... Awesome effort Luca! With only a few seconds left Liam Wood took the direct route to the line only to be brought to ground by Ripon yet again, then followed a moment of team brilliance that led to Moo finding the smallest of gaps in the Ripon defence, even then he had to carry defenders with him as he crossed the line to score the only try of the match, the whole team, parents and coaches were ecstatic! There then followed a couple of nail biting minutes of counterattack from Ripon and determined defence by Harrogate before everyone was relieved to hear the final whistle.....what a game!

USA Report - Steve Baker

The first thing I would like to say is that it was great to see how much the squad all enjoyed themselves! If there was going to be a first prize to the squad that had the most fun I would have defiantly put them in a podium position!!!

The guys really played well, communicating and supporting each other very well. We had some great defensive plays throughout the tournament, turning over possession not just through the ‘Seventh Tackle Turnover’ but also through some big hits! Even though Finn B was back on his tackle rampage, everyone else really stepped up to the mark with some games being won possibly through more defensive work than play-making. However, it was the great combo of strong straight running from players like Max Bird, Milly Baker and Tommy Carswell that sucked in their defence (yes, just like in real rugby) that then created space out wide for the speedsters like Luca Cotton, Will "Boothy" Booth, Harry Baskind and Ben "Greeny" Green who scored a shed load of tries . Although Harry B only played in the opening game, he threw the most outrageous dummy pass which I think all the opposition, most of our team, the referee and a few spectators all bought!!!

The Newbies Rohan Turner, Eddie "Sweanie" Swainston and especially Hugo Millar all really came on in leaps and bounds, putting in tackles and doing some great passing of the ball.

The two outstanding things for me were the strong running, sucking in the opposition, and then taking the ball to ground when there wasn’t an off load opportunity available, which created the space out wide for the speedsters to score the tries. I guess it is the wonderful way this game works, by not just having a team of big strong ball carriers, but also needing them to create space for the other nippier ones on the outside, which was displayed on Sunday so well.

The hardest part for the coaches was, as always, trying to manage the substitutes as fairly as possible.

Well done to all the squad and a big thank you to all the Parents for their support and for behaving impeccably as always. Special thanks to Messrs Lindley and Green for taking the tackle and pass count and finally thanks to Tim for the sweeties.

Andy & Steve