A HAT trick of first-half tries laid the foundations for another fine victory for Huddersfield’s Under 16s who defeated local rivals Old Brodleians 17-10 at Hipperholme.
Both teams stood for thetraditional period of silence for Remembrance Day after which the visitors pinned Brods down in their own third of the pitch, and looked to have scored when Nathan Smith went over the line, only to have the try disallowed for a knock-on.
However, a minute later Huddersfield moved the ball quickly through the hands of fly-half Elliot Whetham and centres Harvey Booth and Adnan Nasir, with full-back Andy Cuthill coming into the line to feed flying winger Joe Stevenson who scorched in for a try in the opposite corner.
Although the conversion failed, Huddersfield were soon on the board again, when Cuthill collected a kick before tearing through and passing to right winger Liam Moran to burst over for his side’s second try.
Smith was on target with the conversion extending the lead and Huddersfield continued to turn the screw with Oliver Clegg, playing against his former club, giving no quarter in his tackling.
Brods tried to adopt a spoiling tactic, coming offside around the scrums and line-outs, but they couldn’t prevent Whetham, Booth and Nasir opening play out as Cuthill joined the line to score his side’s third try and take the visitor’s lead to 17 points at the break.
Elliott Spears produced some solid running out of defence to start the second half but the cover was unable to prevent Brods scoring an unconverted try in the left corner.
Centre Thomas Wrigley went close to adding to Huddersfield’s tally with a great run down the touchline, only to be stopped by a last ditch tackle, while Louis Frear made several telling tackles as well as several strong drives forward.
Brods added a late second try, but were contained well up to the final whistle as Huddersfield wrapped up another fine victory.
Heath’s Colts were far too strong for travelling Malton & Norton, winning 59-7.
First-half tries for Luke McKenzie, Peter Birkett, Ben Critchley and Ezra Hinchliffe led Heath to a 24-0 half-time lead, while Jack Ledgard added the fifth straight after the break.
In the second half Max Sheldrake scored twice, while there were further tries from James Wilkinson (2) and six goals from Hinchliffe to round off a comprehensive win.
