Sunderland U12s progress continues as the lads find their 6th win of the season, in a superb team effort

Thanks must go to West Hartlepool RFC for hosting today’s games and providing some excellent referees for the occasion. Sunderland and Gateshead RFC responded by putting on an excellent display of open and expansive rugby.

Sunderland opened the scoring early, with a try from James Graham. No stranger to try scoring this season, he crashed through the Gateshead tackles in his usual direct style. Sunderland continued the way they had begun with an excellent solo try from full-back Marcus Taylor, running from deep in his own half to score. A couple of good phases of attacking rugby saw Gateshead hit back with one of their own before Sunderland created two more tries before halftime. Joe Whelan collected the ball from the back of a scrum and darted over the line, evading the pincer movement of the Gateshead Scrum and Fly Halves. Sunderland asserted further dominance as options were available out wide for inside centre Cameron Holder, who chose instead to break two tackles in front of him to score an excellent centre’s try. Halftime score Sunderland 28 – 7 Gateshead.

The second-half saw Sunderland soak up pressure from a resurgent Gateshead, who scored two good tries of their own, converting one. Winger Harry Patterson was unlucky not to have a first try to his name after making a couple of excellent attacking forays down the open-side wing. It appeared that Sunderland’s new phase of pressure was over as Gateshead won the ball back with some strong counter-rucking. As they tried to run the ball back out of trouble James Savage ripped the ball from a Gateshead player in a maul, winning Sunderland a quick turnover of their own. He peeled from the maul, burst into the space on the blindside and was over for Sunderland’s fifth try of the game. All tries were converted by Alex Tuckwell for a final score of 35-19 to Sunderland. Man of the Match was awarded to Marcus Taylor for some excellent tackles and a superb full-back’s try from distance, taking on a whole team en-route to the goal area.

The second game of the day immediately followed the first with Sunderland playing back to back for a full hour of rugby. Tired legs combined with a fresh and fast West Hartlepool side in opposition made the second game of the day a difficult task. Some very good defensive work followed with important tackles made by Harry Patterson, Marcus Taylor, Joe Whelan and Max Houlden, who all made last ditch try saving tackles at one point or another during a difficult game. Sunderland went in at half time without a try, and having conceded four, with three of them being converted by the West Hartlepool kicker. Half-time score 28-0.

Sunderland appeared to have lost the energy shown in the first game, with both coaches coming onto the field between tries to attempt to talk some life back into the team. A further three tries were conceded in the second half, with most of the seven tries conceded coming from three particular backs whose pace the tired Sunderland legs were struggling to cope with. Daniel Barker and Cameron Holder found a way, with a well worked two man tackle on one of West’s big men. Daniel went low around the legs and Cameron had gone high to smother the ball in another example of last-man-back, try saving tackles. One of the strengths this group of lads have always shown is their ability to carry on, and never give up. The boys may have run out of energy, and our scrum may have appeared sapped of strength, but they have never lost their heart before. They didn’t lose their heart today either, and managed to dig deep to find 2 tries of their own in the second half. The first came from a perfectly timed pass from Joe Whelan, who drew the defender towards him before releasing the ball out wide to James Graham. The second row forward had found his way out onto the wing. He surprised the opposition and supporters alike as his pace didn’t look out of place on the wing. He crossed the line for his second try of the day, taking his total up to 80 points for the season. 47-7 down at this point, but Sunderland were not finished yet. Next try the winner anyone?

The ball spilled from the back of a maul with no-one from the West Hartlepool team picking it up. Owen Tyson’s quick thinking and excellent reactions saw him break from the maul and come round the back to collect the ball instead. After a quick pause to check the referee was happy he found he was surrounded with nowhere to run, “the ball was loose, that’s ok,” nodded the ref. Owen picked the perfect pass to Joe Whelan who was in space and finished with a sprint for the line, diving over for the final try of the game, in the final second of a long hour of rugby. It was then up to Alex Tuckwell to finish the game with the conversion, completing his 100% record on the day and bring his points total to 14 from conversions over the two games. The whistle sounded for a final score of 47-14.
Man of the Match was awarded jointly to Cameron Holder and Daniel Barker for their bold display in defence.

An excellent day of rugby and much to be proud of for every member of the Sunderland side. Andy and I would both like to thank the players and parents for their continued efforts. We’ve always said that our aim is to have the lads enjoying their rugby, from the efforts and performances they have shown us recently it’s obvious that they are.