Ripon U13s give selection headache

With a squad of 27 players all playing good rugby, next week's Yorkshire Cup quarter final selection will prove to be difficult as we are restricted to the number of players we can field.

With only Cameron Gilchrist unavailable this week due to a school trip abroad, todays encounter was met with a wealth of positional options.

Playing against the England coach's U13s charges, Harry Hill has probably also given Stuart Lancaster a selection headache ahead of February's 6 nations, with a personal tally of 5 tries and 3 conversions.

Hill's first was almost straight from his kick off. West Park gathered the kick and returned it down Ripon's left wing. Harry Alen secured the ball under pressure just inside his own half and quick effective rucking allowed Hamish Mainey to feed Harry Hill who went down the blind side, using his strength and size to break through the covering tackle and then his speed to race 50 meters and score under the posts.

West Park had some great running backs and a break down Ripon's left wing would have given them their first try if not for Oliver Williams making a try saving tackle. Ted Wainwright and Bob McKee combined to take the ball back towards the half way line and then Harry Hill powered through the defence and ran in his second under the posts.

Although Hill had an outstanding game, the possession he got was down to a great squad performance.
The pack were on form and rucked very well.
Soloman Fiengold had a great tackling game and Oliver Rockey had some nice runs.

The wings saw a lot of ball today and Nathan Fraser came within inches of scoring but was kept out by good defence. Evan Rees broke through to cross the line but was judged to have infringed with a double movement.
West Park's clearing kick was fielded by Harry Hill who ran in for his third.

However, West Park hit back with two excellent runs down Ripon's right wing to bring the scoreline to 19-10.

Before half time Harry Hill notched yet another, which I'm sure was a great try with all players involved but to be honest I was looking after an injured player and didn't see what happened. 26-10 half time.

The start of the second half saw a great passage of play, with Connor Stout showing he has strength as well as speed, by ripping the ball off the attacker in the tackle and powering up the field. The forwards were all in support and the result was Bob McKee crossing the line but was judged to be held up.

Ripon re-gained possession on the visitor's 22 and with a goose step that reminded me of my earlier career, Harry Hill broke through the defence to score yet again.

Ted Wainwright was next to score. Another elusive run from Connor Stout was supported by the pack and Wainwright used his size and strength to beat the defence and score.

West Park showed great resolve to hit back with another try of their own before Wainwright landed his
second after Harry Hill kicked long and chased up, secured the ball and offloaded to Ted, who couldn't be caught from the opposition 22.

West Park had the final word with another try in the corner and a fantastic conversion.

Frasier McPherson was solid under high ball, Ethan McMurray continues to impress, showing great improvement and Michael Sorby showed his versatility by adding yet another position to his CV.

Tries:
Harry Hill (5)
Ted Wainwright (2)

Conversions:
Harry Hill (3)