Tonight's game saw Skirlaugh Bulls away to West Hull, this was going to be hard game not just playing West Hull but the fact we only had 13 lads to pick from. The game kicked off and started in the expected way both teams going head to head at each other and not holding back. Jay Smallwood was playing at acting half and getting some quick balls out for Ben Ellis who was directing the boys around the field. Josh Berndston and Alfie Shultz were taking the boys up the middle and both lads made exceptional yards laying down a good platform, they were supported by Bradley Garrod and Oliver Agar who took the ball in and built on the forward momentum which gave us good ground possession. In a typical clash what advantage we made was then cancelled out with the momentum West Hull were making, and this tested our defence and step up Alfie Shultz and Josh Berndston who faced the West Hull forwards and did not take a backward step. Across the park our defence held West Hull with Luke Armstrong and Tyler Mellor’s on one wing and Charlie Cavanaugh and Keiron Boyd on the other side held their position and so West Hull could not find a single hole. The game changed at about the 5 minute point when we found ourselves in West Hulls half and Charlie Cavanaugh went on a run up the middle found half a hole and so exploited it and eventually found the line and scored the first points of the night with a good try, this was also converted by Charlie Cavanaugh as well. West Hull came straight back at us but our defence was really tight with the forwards hitting hard and up sported with the tackling from Tyler Mellor’s and Ben Ellis. In our defence Ben McNamara was sorting our line out as well as producing some good tackles, he was also put under pressure from West Hull who kicked well on their last tackles. With the game being tight the boys were worked hard in defence and produced some good attacking play, on one of these attacking plays saw us near West Hull lines and the ball found it's way to Alfie Shultz hands and he forced his way over to score a hard try. With a little lead the boys felt how hard West Hull wanted to beat us as they put us under a lot of pressure, we held strong until we had to defend a fourth set West Hull found their way over our line, this was also converted. With Kai Fowler and Oliver Hemsworth introduced to take the ball forward the boys did well, from a loose ball Kai Fowler picked it up and we went from defence on the half way line to attack Oliver Hemsworth ran the ball in well and from that a quick play the ball From Jay Smallwood the ball went through several hands and Charlie Cavanaugh nearly found a gap but was held short. Ben Ellis then kicked the ball and the boys tackled West Hull behind the line, on the resulting play Alfie Shultz decided to show us how he can run the line which he did after bouncing off a few players he found the line and scored a good try, this was converted by Ben McNamara. This was to remain the score till half time, the boys finish on a high and Coach Chatwin took the boys to the shade to cool them down and an encouraging half time chat.
The second half started much the same way the first finished both teams going at each other hell for leather, you could sense West Hull were trying that little bit harder as they kept coming straight at our boys down the middle but our defence just held them out with some big tackles from Alfie Shultz and Kai Fowler supported by Oliver Hemsworth who all were playing well, out on the wings the boys did not let West Hull gain any ground with Luke Armstrong and Tyler Mellor’s working hard in front of the home crowd as West Hull kept playing down their own wing. The game went back and forth and the play kept swapping hands and some of the times we were not totally sure for the reason why we kept being penalised on a regular occasion. Unfortunately on the back of one of these plays were we were heavily penalised West Hull found themselves close to our line and on the back of this they seemed to score again. As they missed the kick it was back down to a 6 point game and the boys seemed to step up a gear and went straight on the attack, but to West Hulls credit they matched us in defence and attack. The boys were getting frustrated by things out of their control but to their credit they kept their heads and played rugby and did not worry about the politics. The game came to an end with us winning 16 point to 10. This maintains our unbeaten run in what was a difficult game so total credit must go to the boys.

Man of the match went to a lad that was battered on a number of occasions but he kept his cool and worked really hard in both defence and attack, well done Alfie Shultz.

Well done boys on winning West Hull for the third time this year, let's keep this unbeaten run going, all you need to do boys is listen to what the coaches are tell you.