U15's v Malton - Friendly

On a blustery day Ionians welcomed Malton to Brantingham Park. With both teams still in the Yorkshire Cup, the crowd anticipated some good rugby, and they were entertained with 10 tries during the match.

Ionians played the first half with the wind behind, and initial play was conducted deep within Malton's half. Good scrummaging and tackling and organised defence meant that little was given away during the opening minutes. Pressure from Ionians led to the first opportunity but, Maltons defence was resolute. However, a charge down by Toms, from a Malton clearance , ultimately led to a scrum on the visitors 5 metre line, and from the scrum, captain James Malcolmson, picked up and ran down the blindside to score in the corner. 5 to 0 Ionians.

From the restart, Ionians found Charlie Kirk who hoofed the ball upfield, and while the full back collected, a strong tackle from Paul Evison put Malton on the back foot. Ionians regained possession, and Charlie Kirk sent a speculative kick over the top, and chased, unfortunately for Malton the bounce of the ball favoured Kirk and he ran in unchallenged to score under the posts , which he subsequently converted the try. 12 to 0.

Ionians maintained the pressure from the subsequent restart and scored again almost immediately, with ball through hands from broken play at the breakdown, Elliot Norris found himself on the wing and as he received the ball was able to sprint into the corner from the 22. 15 minutes gone, 17 to 0 in favour of Ionians.

Whenever Malton pressed into Ionians half, any danger was cleared trough the boot of Kirk, and followed up by some resolute tackling from the forwards. Using the conditions to advantage the kick and chase put Ionians in a strong position with a lineout on Malton's line, from which Marshall Holgate rose to catch and dive over, 22 to 0.

The final play of the first half should have seen a fifth try scored but a 3 to 1 overlap went without reward.

Second half started, the wind dropped, but the rain came briefly, and credit to Malton, they set the second half alight with a sparkling run from defence, cutting through a number of tackles to score in the corner 22 to 5.

Scrummaging was solid from both teams, and with the referee enabling the game to flow, the second half saw some good play through hands. Galvanised by the try, and some strong words from the coach, Ionians ran the ball towards the Malton line. A defensive kick out from the Malton stand off fell to Adam Myers at fullback who ran back and cut through some tackles only to be stopped 5 yards short, however, from the pick up Joe Nellist was on hand to pick the ball up and charge at the Malton line, scoring in the corner his first try for the club, 27 to 5.

Some good runs from Jack Denly, Toms Vickops, Joe Walker, Sam Blyth, gave opportunities, that were stopped by the Malton defence. But Ionians 6th try came through Harry Cawood, as the ball was passed through hands, Harry had some open space to run into, and he sped over the line. 32 to 5

Malton continued to try to make their way forward and with a solid pack and decent backline they caused the home side more problems, Toms led the way in some fierce tackling to keep them at bay, supported by the likes of Archie, Will p, Matty,

Ionians pressed upfield and won ball at the lineout, taken forward Toms was brought down short of the line, from the recycle, Ollie Painter delayed his pass to put Marshall in for his second try. Not long after, a step to the left, and then to the right, by scrumhalf Painter, created some space for him to run into, while he was taken down, the ball was gathered by Toms who raced over from 10 yards, 42 to 5.

The final score came from the visitors, who made good progress down the centre ground, and while initially not capitalising on a 3 to ` overlap, with the ball recycled the score came in the corner.

Full Time score 42 to 10 in favour of the home side

Try Scorers
James Malcolmson, Charlie Kirk, Joe Nellist, Elliot Norris, Marshall Holgate 2, Toms Vickops, Harry Cawood

Conversions
Charlie Kirk

Men of Match
Charlie Kirk, Toms Vickops