Holderness Vikings ARLFC

Yorkshire combination youth rugby league u17s play off final(division 1)

Holderness Vikings 17s 10 Hull Wyke 8

After a mammoth ten month winter season the last game of the season was a brutal low scoring game that was in the balance until the final few seconds of the game.

Wyke started the game with a solid set of six, using their big forwards to roll down the pitch, full credit to the Vikings defence as they more than matched the Wyke team with some brave defence , hooker Ellis Wray leading the way. Hull Wyke kept the ball tight in the middle of the pitch again working themselves into good field position, then sending out some testing kicks towards the Vikings wingers, full credit to Alex Meffin and James Taylor who time and time again returned the ball with interest.

Vikings props John Norton and ex wyke player Harry Cooper started to make inroads into the Wyke defence , this great work allowed half backs George Grassby and Ben Faulkner to start firing out some superb balls to the hard working second rowers Keaton Mcstay and Liam Garnett.

Another period of pressure from the Wyke team had the pressure building on the Vikings line, it was back to the wall defence with centre Calum Daniels producing some great tackles .Again Wyke came away with no points after another great spell of rugby . A sharp pass from Wray put Mcstay into space thirty metres out from the Wyke line, showing good speed and footwork the second rower looked like the games first points were about to be scored but a great cover tackle form the impressive Wyke full back stopped a certain try .

Looseman for the Vikings Adam Brankley started to find a few holes in the Wyke defensive line , this gave full back Dan Suddaby a chance to send a lovely flat pass out towards left winger Meffin who crossed in the corner only to be brought back for a forward pass ,next to get close for the Vikings was outstanding prop John Norton who was tackled inches away from the line.

Scrum half Grassby started to work a little magic and with Standoff Faulkner playing like an extra forward as he needed to do as Vikings only had one sub thinks started to open up for the Vikings another fine flat pass from Suddaby sent left wing Meffin over the white wash to score the games first points the conversion was missed .

The second half started with Wyke again attacking the Vikings line but sending the ball out a little wider, only great work from Josh Kelly and winger Taylor keeping the Vikings line intacked,Kelly who usually plays in the forwards showed up well playing the difficult centre position. Next on the score sheet was the Wyke right winger after a raid down the Vikings Left hand defence a great touch line conversion put Wyke in front for the first time.A penalty was kick by Wyke after a high tackle put a little daylight between the teams.

With time running out Holderness had to come up with something special to unlock the well drilled Wyke defence, on the back of some brave drives into the heart of the Wyke defence from Garnett and cooper up popped Brankley with a surging run into space, again a great tackle brought the rampaging looseman to a stop but a desperate pass that rolled along the floor had the Wyke defence at sixes and sevens but not stand off Faulkner who picked up the ball without breaking his stride to score the games last try with Suddaby adding the extras it was going to be a frantic last five minutes.

Frantic it was with Wyke pressing the Vikings line it looked like a late score would win the game for Wyke but on the third tackle a poor kick was picked up by Kelly, two drives later the referee called time on the game .

The game was put on hold deep into the second half after two Wyke players clashed heads that required a trip to Hospital, Holderness Vikings hope the lads are soon on the mend.