Barnard Castle/ Richmond U13s 22pts vs. Penrith U13s 25pts
Penrith took the lead with a typical Kyle Glasson try, combining strength and speed to touch down in the home side’s corner. Penrith’s forwards dominated rucks and mauls and more than matched the home side in the scrum. Penrith’s second try was scored by Thomas Maund, taking advantage of handling errors by the home side he kicked the ball past the home defence in the 22 and touched down to make the score 0-10. The backs, much improved with less handling errors and quick ball from break downs, recorded a third try, taken by Harry Thompson who ran half of the length of the pitch to score in the corner. The home side reduced the deficit, taking advantage of a gap in the Penrith defence to score their only try of the first half. Kyle Glasson, Penrith’s Man of the Match, mirrored his opening try with an equally well taken brace to take the half time score to 5 -20.
The second half opened with strong play by both sides before Isaac Butterworth burst through the home defence to score a very well taken try, Penrith then taking a 20 point lead. However, the home side to their credit really upped their game and applied some dogged pressure on Penrith. Penrith suffered a loss of discipline for a short period and the home side exploited this. The home side scored three tries in a short period of time and with one of the tries converted brought the scores to 22-25 for a nail biting last three minutes of the game. Penrith held on to secure the victory. The whole Penrith squad can be proud of their individual performances and their team play, with some excellent rugby demonstrated, particularly in the first half.