Farnley Falcons U10 V Batley Boys U10

Batley Boys U10s continued their improvement with a great performance away at Farnley Falcons.

Playing against 11 players Batley were able to put into practice what they had been training towards as they put out a full team
with all the positions filled. Things didnt start well though as from the kick off Batley kicked straight to one of Farnleys quick
players and he was able to run around the defence to open the scoring. Batley re-grouped and after findng field position with a
couple of runs up the middle hooker Lewis Stafford fed the ball to scrum half Callum Smith who found Noah Jones, with plenty of work
still to do Noah took the ball out wide and dummied before crossing the line. Farnley hit straight back as Batley struggled to find
their feet in defence and took the lead once again, all the signs were there that Farnley had improved since their visit to Batley
and were going to be a hard team to beat. Looking to level matters Solomon Haldenby took the game to Farnley with a strong drive
taking him over the line and he was able to convert his own try. Again Farnley hit back but Batleys best was yet to come both in
attack and defence, from the re-start Batley found position again with Logan Bagshaw and Cole Ripley introduced to the action to
put Farnley on the back foot, and a slick move saw the ball go through several hands to Josh Howgate who dived to score in the corner,
even the Farnley coach commented after how impressive the ball movement was from the Batley side. Great defence from top tacklers Miles
Wilkinson and Callum Smith forced a Farnley knock-on and Batley took advantage as Josh Howgate added to his points tally with a try.
As half time approached it seemed Batley had stemmed the Farnley tide but on the last play of the half Farnley opted to run the ball
and levelled the scores up.

Batley started the second half well as they tried to get the ball out to Josh Martin and Callum McNaughton in wide positions but Farnley
held firm in defence. Tiredness and injuries caused a few players to play out of position with Brandon Hall-Crowther very impressive
at full-back and Logan Bagshaw playing well at Loose Forward, with both sides cancelling each other out Lucas Moore and Logan Hinchliffe were outstanding in defence, with the players defending side by side there was never any way through on their side
while Lewis Stafford probed in attack from hooker causing plenty of problems. It was Farnley who took the lead after a long
period without a try as they again broke down the wing to score, with the pressure now on to hit back the forward pack began to
really dominate the tired Farnley side as Solomon Haldenby and Cole Ripley punctured holes in the defence but it was a massive effort
from Riley Sanderson who was never going to be stopped as he levelled the scores again. With only a few minutes remaining Stefan
Dumitru returned to the field and a huge run from him gave Batley the lead with only 2 minutes remaining, having only conceded one
try all the second half Batley were detemined to keep Farnley out and defended a full set of six brilliantly. There was still time
for another try as Solomon Haldenby burst up the field to be tackled short but there was no stopping Stefan Dumitru who burst through
to score his second try and seal the win.