Saturday 6 April - Billingham v Wharfedale (A) KO 2.15pm ------- Billingham 2nd XV v Foresters (A) KO 2.15pm ------

Sheffield Tigers 27-44 Wharfedale Foresters – Match Report

The trip down to Dore Moor is never an easy one, this week made more interesting by the fact of the unavailability of a suitable coach, traffic issues in Bradford and Sheffield and roadworks on the M1 but the young Foresters squad traveled down in good spirits following on from the last 15mins of the previous weeks curtailed fixture at the avenue. 

Late arrivals and slightly earlier kickoff time coupled with the constant issue of unavailable front row players added to the pressure but the young squad seemed to rise to the days challenges. 

The Foresters kicked off up the slight slope on the pitch and the tigers quickly went on the attack and forced the greens back into their 22 with a couple of soft penalties this resulted in an early yellow card to foresters prop Tom Whitehead and a couple of phases later the tigers crossed the whitewash, missed conversion. 

Straight from the kick off and strong tackle and a good clean turnover by summer signing Ben Markey followed by quick hands by the backs gave winger Bradley Viner enough room to score, conversion made by Marcus Farnworth. 

A brief period of stalemate was broken up by Thomas Darwin getting away from his opposite number and feeding his centre partner Oscar Canny who in turn fed onto Viner once again to cross wide right, converted once again by Farnworth, all this with still being down to 14 men.

This tigers then had a purple patch and and got their noses in front following a couple of tries and a conversion 

Not to be outdone the Foresters seemed to regroup and once again following good phases forced tigers to concede soft penalties and quick thinking by hooker Ben Oakes who took a quick tap and crashed over from 5yds, conversion missed.

Some scrappy play from both sides followed with both sides not giving each other room to create chances, from one sloppy attacking phase by the foresters Viner picked up a loose pass and surged forward offloading to Markey who crossed under the sticks, converted by Farnworth 

HT: Tigers 17 – 26 Foresters 

Into the second half and again some scrappy play came to the fore but again after forcing some soft penalties out of the Tigers and 5yd penalty was tapped by Markey who drove at the to be stopped inches short which allowed James Ardron to scoop and dive over, converted by Farnworth. 

The foot was taken off the gas again and the Tigers scored another couple of unconverted tries.

This seemed to shake to foresters into life and following a surging runs by back rows Joe Fawcett & Markey who combined to put replacement Duncan Clayton-Stead into space who in turn had choices to pass onto he chose Viner who completed a hat-trick, conversion missed. 

Back came the tigers only to be kept out by some resolute defence by the greens and periods where both sides were again reduced to 14 men.

The Foresters finished the scoring with two late converted penalties by Farnworth which ran the clock down and pushed the tigers to two scores behind.

FT: Tigers 27-44 Foresters 

All in all a good long day out at the office and the young foresters squad can be pleased with the character and endeavor to play attractive rugby against a strong well drilled tigers outfit.

Squad
1. Jack Wells, 2. Ben Oakes, 3. Tom Whitehead, 4. James Ardron, 5. Jack Burton, 6. Alfie Weston, 7. Ben Markey, 8. Joe Fawcett , 9. Lewis Kincart, 10. Max Bell, 11. Bradley Viner, 12. Thomas Darwin, 13. Oscar Canny, 14. Fred Hewetson, 15. Marcus Farnworth,

Replacements

16. Duncan Clayton-Stead, 17. Joe Moorhouse, 18. Owen Bullock, 19. Michael Beer, 20. Ethan Spencer.

Regards 

Rob Burnett

2nd XV Team Manager

Managed by a ThriveWP care plan. ❤️