Close...so very close

Mistakes prove costly in pursuit of silverware.

The Old Brods U13 fell agonisingly short in their quest for Silverware when they were pipped to the post by Wetherby in the Plate Final of the Yorkshire Cup on Sunday. Despite a bright opening ten minutes where they laid siege to the Wetherby line they were unable to cross the whitewash and were soon to pay the price. From their first foray into the Brods half Wetherby capitalised on sloppy play by the Woodhead boys on their own line and soon crossed for the game’s opening try. As Brods again applied pressure, they were soon further behind when loose carries gave the ball away and the Wetherby winger raced away from his own line to score a second.

The Brodleians continued to play all the rugby and were rewarded when second row Samuel Thackery went over from a barnstorming run following some good recycling by the forwards but once again they were unpicked by the flying Wetherby winger who capitalised on more spilled ball and crossed for a further two long range efforts. Halftime came with Wetherby leading 20 to 5.

Second half positional changes saw the impressive Thackery and Ben Parkin move to outside centre and wing to counter the threat of Wetherby’s potent winger. With their only real threat shut down Brods were soon back in the game with some good direct forward play lead by Harvey Crossley. Tobias Gibson was proving a real handful with some strong running and as Brods continued to play their expansive brand of Rugby , Harry Hepworth pulling the strings at fly half, two quality tries followed with Ben Parkin finishing off out on the wing. With ten minutes to go and Wetherby it was looking promising and when Oli Vining crashed over for a score to tie the game it looked like silverware might be on the cards but the referee inexplicably denied the effort and from the ensuing penalty for backchat Wetherby cleared the ball up field and a wicked bounce saw the ball fall into the arms of the Wetherby wing. Brods were again two scores behind with only a few minutes remaining.

Brods were quickly back into it and playing all the rugby and good runs from Samuel Thackery soon had them back on the attack and when Matty Melling scored the Brods fourth there was a glimmer of hope but it was too little too late and a relieved Wetherby took the silverware. A great effort by the Brods lads and whilst not the result they would have the future most certainly looks bright.