Middlesbrough U11s 35 Darlington U11s 0



A hard game against a very experienced and talented ‘Boro team !

A beautiful sunny morning at a busy Middlesbrough Minis ground was the backdrop for this game.

Darlington won the toss and elected to kick, a wise choice as Lewis’ excellent kick was knocked on by a ‘Boro forward ! However the resulting scrum ended with the home team regaining the ball. Some very good passing and support running from the Middlesbrough backs then created their first try despite a brave chase and attempted dive tackle from Daniel.

This passage of play was to set the theme for most of the game.

Our “brand new” front row of Brandon, Alfie and Robert found it hard work against a bigger and more experienced ‘Boro front three. In the first half, in particular, it was clear that our pack was working hard and learning how to deal with a very organized and powerful ‘Boro front five.

The fact that our scrum did improve , bit by bit, as the game went on is a credit to our forwards. A special mention must go to Brandon : playing his first game for us at Loose Head he got better and better as the game went on and he was up against a tough and determined Tight head. Well done Brandon. With Robert providing a solid platform on the other side of our scrum and Alfie fighting for every ball our Front Row can certainly be proud of their efforts and look forward to far better rewards as they become used to playing together.

Another special mention must go to George. Playing his first game at Lock George grew into his position with each scrum and with Sam working like mad and helping George along it became clear that with a bit more practice and experience these two players will make an impressive Second Row !

The last three scrums of the game were all close. We won two with the head and took one against ! A superb effort from our Forwards after such a difficult start.

With our Forwards finding it hard to get to grips with the ‘Boro pack our Backs found themselves with a lot of defending to do !

Some great tackling from Daniel , Oliver and Lewis in particular kept the ‘Boro score down to four tries at half time.

Oliver had few chances to run with the ball and with our backs line drifting in towards him he never really managed to play the ball out into space. His usual fiery defence did shut down a lot of ‘Boro’s mid-field threat : well done Oliver. We will work on keeping you and the backs line in good positions and pretty soon you and the team will see the benefits.

Middlesbrough ran straight, passed and supported the man with the ball with great skill and at times our Backs line lost it’s shape so that when we did recover the ball our attacking options were not brilliant.

Some good running from Brandon, Alfie and Sam did begin to get us moving forwards and twice in the second half Daniel demonstrated his courage and talent with some good powerful running and a couple of excellent , smart, passes out to the wings. Well done Dan, as our team moves on and learns you will get a lot more space to do your stuff !

Benjamin , playing his very first game, had just a couple of chances to get the ball in his hands but this was enough to show us all that he has real speed and a natural flair for wing play. Some great cover tackles also showed us that he is more than willing to do the hard work for the team. Well done Benjamin : an excellent debut !

With our Backs finding it hard to keep their team shape we struggled to get the ball wide quickly or often so Anthony found himself defending his wing more than attacking down it. Towards the end of the game he made two or three tackles against bigger ‘Boro players and never gave up. Well done Anthony. A good run of solid training with your team will lift your game to the next level in no time.

Another player working hard against this very good team was Owen. Owen has trained and played at Full Back before but this was his first run out in the position in a full twelve man team. Once again, as we struggled to keep the ball moving, Owen had few chances to show us his natural running ability but certainly put his fair share of tackles in. Well done Owen : we will work on the positional side of playing Full Back and get you kicking the ball. A bit of work and your natural talent will get a chance to shine !

As the second half went on it became clear that Middlesbrough were not going to run in the huge score they might have hoped for.
Some good, determined, running from Alfie, Robert and Sam and a half break from Lewis gave a glimpse of the attacking threat we have .

A difficult game for our team in many ways but we were all impressed by their courage, team spirit, determination and good humour. Well done boys. We will move on as a team and improve more and more .

A big well done to Benjamin : first game – brilliant !

Well done to Lewis for doing a Captain’s job, running his legs off for the team and , to quote two of the Middlesbrough players after the game – for being “ a real pain in the neck to play against “, that’s real praise !

A big thank you and a well done to Archie ( kindly loaned to us for this game by Middlesbrough ). It’s difficult to step into a strange team but Archie was a credit to his club and himself.

Not the result we would have hoped for but the sunshine , great humour and support from the Darlington crowd made it all seem better.

And, to end, seeing Brandon and Daniel run out in Darlo colours again was like our team scoring ten tries ( so I make us the winners ) !

Welcome back boys !