Acklam RFC U16's V DMPRFC U16’s.

With the rugby season now in its second month and in full swing, Sun 16 Oct 16, saw the DMPRFC U16’s make their way down the A66 / A19, to visit another one of their local rivals, namely Acklam RFC. With Acklam RFC’s address pulled from their club website subsequently confusing all DMPRFC Sat Nav’s, local knowledge of the route to the club would be crucial in ensuring that all players arrive on time and as in previous games this season, the odd one or two DMP players turned up late to avoid the dreaded warm up and the all inspiring team talk.

All previous games against Acklam RFC have been highly contested by both teams and anticipation that this game would also reach that high standard was rippling around the waiting crowd who were in full spectator mode behind the hoardings. Following the briefing from the referee, the game soon started with Mowden electing to kick; however, with the ball not travelling the required 10 meters, Acklam had possession and chose a scrum at the centre and immediately began applying the pressure on the DMP team, forcing them backwards, towards their own try line. Due to the inclement weather conditions, the somewhat sloping / strangely obtuse angled pitch and the hangovers suffered by some of the players, numerous handling errors quickly ensued from both teams, resulting in a high number of restarts on both sides. This was further confirmed at the line outs, in which the weather and slope of the pitch caused further confusion amongst both teams, causing confident and consistent players to make silly mistakes. Thankfully, both sides were not punished to severely by these errors.

The game continued playing out in this way until a break by the DMP forwards allowed the backs the opportunity to finally run at the defending Acklam team. The determination by the DMP backs, supported by the forwards finally resulted in a try in the far corner of the pitch by Callum, however, due to the conditions, the conversion was unsuccessful. Acklam suffered a restart set back which saw their ball fail to reach the 10-meter line, however, this was scooped up perfectly by Charley, who made a blistering solo run towards the Acklam try line but despite all his best efforts, he was caught only a few meters away from the try line.

Acklam, not to be outdone by this performance, soon applied further pressure on the DMP team and had a number of try scoring opportunities themselves during the initial part of the first half. Acklam backs rose to the challenge and put tremendous pressure on the DMP team; only the sheer will, determination and aggression by all the DMP players, stopped Acklam from scoring a flurry of try’s.
As the first half was drawing to an end, it saw a choice kick by an Acklam player go into the air close to the waiting DMP players, which was quickly followed up by some very colourful language from his team mates who were keen to show him their support for his decision to kick. This colourful language caused the spectating crowd to cover their ears and even afforded some of the old timers, the opportunity to learn new words. Sadly, for the Acklam player, his kick ultimately contributed to another DMP try by Callum who secured his brace in the far corner following a punishing run at the Acklam backs line by Coops.

As the half time whistle blew, DMP U16’s only had 10 points on the score sheet and with Acklam still to score but had come agonisingly close numerous times, the game was anyone’s for the win.

At the start of the second half, Acklam came out of the blocks and again brought the game to DMP, which saw their forwards stamping their authority on the DMP pack at the breakdowns, which resulted in a number of turnovers and with quick balls now being the norm from Acklam, they were soon playing firmly in the DMP half. This quick play of the ball by Acklam afforded numerous opportunities for all the DMP players to practice their tackling techniques.

This pressure by Acklam soon resulted in them securing some well deserved points and after scoring the conversion this saw them bring the game to within 3 points. With the crowds from both teams wanting their respective teams to secure the win, it was the DMP team that began to find their footing and began working as a team rather than as individuals.

This revelation by the DMP team that if they all worked smarter and not harder to secure the points, soon paid dividends, resulting in a further try by Sam who scored close to the posts. Not to be outdone by DMP, Acklam soon rallied together which saw their back line, again produce some wonderful support play where they were moving the ball with ease towards the DMP 22 meter line and a try for their team was inbound. As the ball was placed down for the try, due to the referee being distracted by some off the ball action, his focus was sadly not on the Acklam player as he secured his team’s second try, however, in the spirit of the game, the touch judge and the DMP forwards coach, Ewan Rankin informed the referee of the Acklam try, which was subsequently awarded and converted.

Following the restart, DMP kicked into a higher gear which saw Tom battle his way over the try line and Conor secure a well deserved brace following a return to the game, having been side lined due to injury. Conor’s second try came from a chase down of the kicker who assisted Conor by kicking the ball into his waiting hands demonstrating his keenness to secure the ball and place pressure on the opposition players.

As the second half came to an end and as the whistle appeared to be heading to the referee’s mouth, Acklam made a final push to secure further points, keeping the ball alive with some wonderful displays of handling and support play resulting in one of their players making a beeline to the corner flag, however, as he was approaching the try line, he was soon ambushed by the arriving DMP players and bundled into touch.
The game ended with a win for DMP; however, Acklam proved to be fantastic opponents and we look forward to the return match at the Arena in March 17, which promises to be another highly charged game. Thank you to Acklam RFC for their hospitality and for providing such wonderful opposition.

With the team missing a number of players due to injuries and holidays and with a number of them also playing out of position, all the DMP players did themselves, coaches and parents proud with their performances.

Sadly, we have to report that the win came at a considerable cost to the team, as Will Curtis on his 16th birthday sustained a broken left wrist during a breakdown and was taken to James Cook hospital for X-rays and a birthday plaster cast rather than tucking into a birthday cake. All of the team, coaches and parents alike, thank Will for all his efforts during the game and wish him a very speedy recovery and hope to see him at the touch line helping out with water bottle / kicking tee duties in the future weeks.

Sun 23 Oct 16, sees the DMP U16’s finally return home to the arena having wandered the wastelands in previous weeks to host Blaydon RFC U16’s. With DMP again suffering from a severe shortage of players due to injuries, holidays and school trips for this game, it will see the remaining DMP players having to work together as a team working smarter and not harder to rise to the challenge.