Pride in display of Vale of Lune Under 14s in tough Lancs Cup loss

Match Report: Aldwinians Under 14s 35 Vale of Lune Under 14s 28

With the Vale pitches deemed unplayable, the under 14s faced a trip to Aldwinians, Manchester, where their pitches were a lot drier.

Having lost 67-0 at the same venue earlier in the season it with some trepidation that the team lined up against a very large and physical team. 

Early exchanges showed an indication that the Vale boys weren’t going to roll over quite so easily this time.

The first score came for Aldwinians in the corner and was successfully converted with a great kick.

Vale opened their account with one of Harry Thomas’ trademark runs and the conversion slotted by William Bathgate. 

A mistake from the kick off allowed Aldwinians possession in the Vale half and the Vale defended valiantly against the gargantuan assault on their lines. 

A massive tackle by Jack Profitt dislodged the ball as the Aldwinians player tried to score but the try was awarded much to the surprise of the home team player. It was successfully converted to make the score 14-7. 

It didn’t take long for the Vale to respond with Harry Thomas latching on to a perfectly timed pass from Jack Profitt to finish under the posts. Will converted to make it 14-14.

Vale were more secure from the kick off and were deep in Aldwinians territory for the remainder of the half missing a penalty kick which would have put some daylight between the two teams. 

The second half started with the Vale kicking off and re-applying the pressure from the end of the first half. From a scrum in the 22 Jack Profitt swatted away a number of defenders as he dotted the ball down under the posts. Will converted to make it 21-14. 

From an Aldwinians attack, the ball was knocked forward in the ruck by the winger and the ball popped out. Stanley Darwen scooped up the ball and sped into the space created by the winger being in the ruck and sped up the blind side. A perfectly timed pass to Harry Thomas took out the last defender leaving him a 50 metre run-in. Some unsporting conduct under the posts as he was scoring, resulted in a yellow card for the Aldwinians player and more surprisingly for Harry Thomas. After the conversion, the score was now 28-14. 

Having put in a massive shift, some of the bigger Aldwinians started to make a little more distance with their carries as the Vale team tired. Two converted tries from Aldwinians levelled the scores at 28-28 with a minute left on the clock. 

Aldwinians carried the ball deep into the Vale 22 and despite some spirited defence, they were able to score to sneak victory with the final play of the game. The boys were disappointed, but they needn't have been. Coaches; Gareth Darwen, Andrew Sheard, Sam Whiteway, Lee Aspin and Iain Hughes expressed their pride in the team's performance. 

Team:  Jacob Arundale, Xavier Simm, Jacob Wadeson, Joshua Milner, Lucas Wadeson, Stanley Darwen, William Bathgate, Euan Lamont, Jack Ingleby, Sonney Copeland, James Magean, Newton Hughes, Jack Westworth, Jack Profitt, Harry Thomas, Archie Sheard, Jack Whiteway and Oliver Fox.