U14 v Otley

Subject: Hull Ionians U14's v Otley U14's Yorkshire Cup Final
Ionians met Otley at West Park in the final of the Yorkshire Cup. Conditions were reasonable, crowd was buzzing in anticipation of a game that had seemed to take ages to come around.

Otley had the wind behind them in the first half, however, they were penalised consistently early on for hands in the breakdown. The contest was fast and furious, the tackles made were hard and both sides were unyielding in given opportunity to the opposition. The majority of the play was made within both teams 22's, with little pressure on the try line in the first 20 minutes. Occassional breaks from Ionians, Adam, James Magee, Archie, Jimbob, were countered by Otley breaks, but defence for both teams were solid, with noticeable tackles from Cadey, Danny B and Brad. In reality all players put a shift in, and little was left on the field

I's suffered a couple of injuries, and shortly after one of these, otleys one real chance of the game came about. Ionians defence was sucked into the breakdown, and once the ball was spun wide, winger Danny Couch was faced with 4 Otley attackers running towards him, the try was inevitable.

Conversion missed half time, 5 to 0 in Otleys favour.

Second half all to play for, with the teams so closely matched the second half followed a similar pattern to the first. Aggressive tackling, occassional handbags, and real desire to eke out that little extra to gain advantage, the match took on a chess like strategy.

The turning point of the match, half way through the second half. A kick from James Magee parallel to the line, found touch inside Otleys 22. The resultant line out saw Ionians regain control of the ball and the pack pushed forward to the try line, near the base of the posts, Ionians had the chance, they were over the Line but the ball was lost. Small margins.

Coach Painter rang a few changes, and Ionians tried a few different ways to break down Otleys defence, with kicks over the top, but Otleys defence was not for breaching. When a penalty kick to touch was missed with moments to go, so was the opportunity for the field position to launch one last assault. And so when the referee blew, it was Otley who were champions, but Ionians had lost nothing in defeat. The closest match of the finals day.

A great experience for boys, coaches and the assembled masses of parents, family and friends. Ionians have had an excellent year, winning 19 of their 23 matches, amassing over 1000 points in the process and beating the county of Hampshire.

All connected to the club should be suitably proud of their achievements and use it as a platform to bigger and better things as U15's next year

Man of Match Danny Betts, not only for his contribution on the pitch but also for the post match entertainment