Wyke 12s march on in Yorkshire Cup

Team: Matthew Smith, Lewis Brown, Jordan Fenton, Scott Benson, William Hutchinson, Jamie Shaw, Reece Clarke(c), Jordan Carter, Ewan McKenzie, Ryan Dearing, Josh Moffatt, Joseph Rodgers-Lang, Calvin Gibson.
Subs: Rhys Purcheon, Lucas Hutchinson, Ben Dean, Connor Kirby.

Upton kicked off on a dry sunny Sunday morning with a howling, swirling gale blowing north easterly across and down the pitch. A poor start by Wyke as the kick off bounces into touch near the 20.

Wyke held firm from the scrum and kept Upton’s big forwards at bay with strong defence deep in our half, forcing Upton to knock on late in the set. Wyke took the ball back up and a half break down the right by Scott Benson is pulled up as he put William Hutchinson into space, the offload pass ruled to be forward.

Upton put further pressure on Wyke’s line and only strong tackles from Reece Clarke and Jordan Carter held our line intact. Upton put in a high kick on the last and a repeat set is forced as Wyke scramble the ball clear.

Wyke defence holds once more and Upton’s big forwards cannot find a gap to break through. This time Joseph Rodgers-Lang, Calvin Gibson and Jamie Shaw tackle to defend the Wyke line.

Wyke regain possession and take the charge down field as forwards Ryan Dearing, Jordan Carter and Josh Moffatt lead the way, a penalty gets us into Upton’s half and its Wyke who draw first blood as Ewan McKenzie and Matthew Smith combine to send Josh Moffatt through to break the Upton line, try unconverted.

Yet again Wyke lose the ball from the kick off and Upton have no hesitation in levelling the scores as they move the ball wide and break Wyke down the right channel, try unconverted.

Upton give away a penalty from the restart but as Wyke press to the Upton line, a poor pass choice sees Wyke knock on deep in Upton territory. The games turns into a mini knockon-athon as both teams spill the ball very early in the following sets, Upton being the first to break this and make a break up field via the rather large No 14. They force a second drop out of the game and although Wyke hold well, as Josh Moffatt breaks away he is tackled out into touch. From the resulting scrum, Upton move the ball to their left and they break Wyke and score in the corner, try unconverted.

Wyke recover from the losing the ball spell and Jordan Fenton makes a 30 metre break. Jordan Carter and Scott Benson again make yards and as the half draws to a close Wyke kick deep down field, Scott Benson races towards the ball but is knocked over by a shoulder charge, missed by the referee, which would have seen Wyke go into the break at least level.

HALF TIME: Hull Wyke 4, Upton 8.

Hull Wyke kick off the second half, aiming to correct the errors from the back end of the previous half, but Upton are the next to score as the ball is passed to the right and the centre breaks a tackle and waltzes 30 metres to score under the posts, try converted.

Wyke now have a large job on our hands, with a 10 point deficit to claw back. Just on from the bench, Rhys Purcheon wastes no time in taking up a powerful drive. Wyke exert the pressure on Upton’s line, Ben Dean backing up with strong running of his own. Wyke’s forwards proving hard to handle and this pays off as Ryan Dearing crashes through the tackles to score Wyke’s second try, unconverted.

Connor Kirby, in only his second game comes into the game more, taking the chance to run with ball in hand and putting in a good tackling spell against players a lot bigger and stronger than himself. Lucas Hutchinson and Lewis Brown hep the tiring forwards with a few scoots up field, Ewan McKenzie and Reece Clarke move the ball on the back of this and Wyke play across the field in a sweeping move that gains good field position.

Josh Moffatt and Jordan Fenton make further yards but Wyke’s attack is broke down and the kick is covered well by the Upton full back. Upton move up field again and the 14 breaks Wyke’s line but is hunted down by Ryan Dearing with a crucial tackle.

As time is running short, Wyke throw everything into the game, Scott Benson breaks again, Wyke move the ball left and Jamie Shaw evades the Upton tacklers. Wyke now in the Upton 20 and power house forward scatters the defence and reaches out from a seemingly impossible position to plant the ball over the whitewash for our third try.
The pressure is all on Josh Moffatt for the conversion, 20 metres to the side of the posts but Josh takes his time and calmly slots the ball between the posts to tie the scores.

With extra time looming, spurred on by this, Wyke try to win the game in normal time. Wyke clear their line well from Connor Kirby and Ewan McKenzie. The ball is the moved from one touchline to the other, Wyke have runners and options and Josh Moffatt puts Scott Benson clear, but he is held up inches short of the Upton line.

Upton have one last flurry of their own and a drop goal attempt but the whistle goes and extra time is needed.

FULL TIME: Hull Wyke 14, Upton 14.

Wyke start the extra time the stronger of the two teams, Upton’s large forwards seeming to tire quickly and Wyke waste no time penning them deep in their own half, forcing the error and Scott Benson pounces on a loose ball, hacking the ball forward and grounding it for a try, Josh Moffatt slots over the goal and Wyke have the upper hand after spending most of the game chasing Upton’s tail.

Upton find some energy reserves and put a lot of pressure on the Wyke defence, which itself is tiring on the heavy pitch. Their hard work pays off as they score the next try, but the conversion falls short so Wyke go into the final half of extra time with a 2 point lead.

As the message goes out to the team to keep it calm and play safe rugby, this falls on deaf ears as a few strange options are chosen. Any number of these could have led to a try, if it had not been for extremely strong defence, especially from Jordan Carter who put in an outstanding ball and all tackle close to the line, as well as Captain Reece Clarke, Lewis Brown and Ewan McKenzie.

The final whistle blows and Wyke takes the spoils and move on to the Yorkshire Cup quarter finals for the second year running.

Not our best performance by a country mile, but credit must go to the players especially them who played well over an hour in muddy, windy conditions. Our defence kept us in the game but to move any further in the competition we must play better with ball in hand and give ourselves the options and field position needed.
We must give thanks to the Upton players and supporters from their part in the game and their fans support, a very good game played in very good spirits. As said in the post-match, the Upton team is only in its first year, but they will be a lot stronger from this experience and we wish them well for the future.

FINAL SCORE: Hull Wyke 20, Upton 18.

MOTM for Hull Wyke – Scott Benson (chosen by Upton)

Hull Wykes MOTM - Given to the whole team due to the effort shown.

Try Scorers: Josh Moffatt, Ryan Dearing, Rhys Purcheon, Scott Benson

Goals: Josh Moffatt (2).