Under 12's match Report 13th December 2009

Having not played for almost a month it was a pleasant change to actually get the guys out onto some grass for a game of rugby and we were very grateful to Old Bedians RUFC to host the fixture at short notice. This should have been a home game for us against LSH but as neither ours nor LSH’s pitches were playable we all took the trip to Didsbury. Unfortunately the home team could only raise a single player and so we had the odd occurrence of both us and LSH playing an away fixture with Robert from Old Bedians making a guest appearance for both teams.
Sadly the guys excellent tackling from 4 weeks ago had been left at Eccles and LSH’s big forwards soon found space to gallop over the turf almost at will. However, Tom Hill, Firth Lord and Joey Gore stepped up their games and slowly the rest of the team answered the call to arms. Firth, despite playing out of position at Stand Off, started to feed his centres and both Rob Parkinson and Dylan Hibbert made some excellent breaks and Joe Hill also got into the act from Full Back. On the wings Maria Parkinson looked dangerous each time the ball reached her whilst Nat Hill settled into “they shall not pass” mode.
Up front our captain, Jordan Ashton, encouraged and drove on his troops and put in his expected shift of hard and telling work ably supported by Wills Brindle, Sam Trueman and Joseph Partington. Faraaz Mohammed also grew in stature throughout the match and won the Top Tackler trophy for his all round improvement plus one special tackle that stuck in the mind and should increase his confidence no end.
Despite LSH being already well out in front by half time the guys never game up and didn’t let themselves become dispirited. Every one of the team kept giving 100% until the final whistle and it was a reward for all 13 players when that Tom Hill crashed over with the final move of the match. To keep his 100% record going for the season Tom added the conversion with aplomb.
Once more Tom was immense throughout the game and his 5th try of the season was scant reward for his efforts. Despite Tom’s performance the Man of the Match trophy went to Joey Gore for his excellent distribution from Scrum Half, determined breaks, all round tackling and for holding up LSH players over the line on three separate occasions. Well played Joey, please keep up the improvement and determination.
Thanks to all 13 players who turned out and to their parents for crawling through the Trafford Centre traffic to tenaciously find Old Bedians’ little corner of Didsbury. Thanks again goes to the home club for hosting the game and congratulations to LSH for an excellent and very sporting performance. All their players showed a first class attitude that has obviously come down from their coaches who were keen to praise the spirit and determination of the Bolton boys and girl. We look forward to the return fixture later in the season.