Sheffield 3rds Dominate Huddersfield YMCA 3rds

Sheffield 3rd XV travelled to Huddersfield YMCA with what looked like a strong team on paper, with a blend of youth being supplied by the colts and experience being provided by senior players coming back from long term injury (Ewan Reed) and being away from the club on studies (Ben Colver).

Despite making a mess of the kick-off, Sheffield began to exert immediate pressure on the host team, with the Sheffield pack scrummaging very well and making inroads into the big Huddersfield forwards. The back-line started to fizz and fly-half Danny Bearman darted through a gap on 6 minutes, side stepped the last defender and went over in the corner for a try. Danny was unable to add the extras on this occasion. Sheffield lead 0 - 5.

The Sheffield backs now started to look dangerous as they got used to each others running lines and centre Ewan Reed, returning to the fray after a 7 week lay off through injury, went in under the posts off after crashing through their centre pairing. Danny Bearman added the simple 2 points, making the score 0 - 12 after 11 minutes.

Sheffield continued to attack from all quarters of the pitch and after a crunching tackle from wing Ali Womack; he picked up the loose ball and dashed 20 metres to score a fine individual effort out wide. Danny Bearman was unlucky not to convert. Score 0 - 17 after 20 minutes.

Huddersfield YMCA then decided to dig in and defended resolutely for the remainder of the half, frustrating the Sheffield team who started to stray off-side at the contact area and get rightly penalised by the referee. Score at half-time 0 - 17.

Changes were made during the break with Ewan Reed dropping back to his more familiar position of full-back and Andy Logan coming on at inside centre. Robin Drinkall also replaced Ali Womack on the wing, where he had had an excellent 40 minutes.

The physical presence of Andy Logan at centre started to open up more gaps in the YMCA defence, allowing Ben Colver to go over for a try on 50 minutes, Danny Bearman added the extras bringing the score to 0 - 24. The floodgates then opened with Danny Bearman making a searing break and beating several would-be defenders to go over for a fine individual try, to which he added the 2 points on 55 minutes. The score was now 0 - 31.

Andy Logan then barrelled over on 60 minutes and added a second on 70 minutes, with Danny Bearman converting both making the score 0 - 45. Huddersfield YMCA got a deserved conciliation try on 72 minutes, making the final score 7 - 45.

A good day's work for Sheffield 3rd XV and in particular man-of-the-match Danny Bearman who ended up with 20 points and did a great job marshalling an exciting back line all afternoon.