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2XV push for title defence
Justin English10 Mar - 10:53
@rfu @yrfu
First and foremost - A special mentions must go to a few second team players who stepped up last week for the first team under very hard circumstances.
The debutants came from Chris Atkinson, Harry Roper and Joel Adams. Tom Wigston has featured already for the first team this season, but he started his first game away at Percy Park.
A second team season is always a rollercoaster based on availability across the senior teams, holidays, family commitments and everything else in between.
Against Scunthorpe, there were 19 players unavailable that had or could play in the 1st team. While this obviously impacts the 1st team, there is almost double the impact on the 2nd team.
With that being said, the second team were still somehow extremely competitive on Saturday and still had it all to play for.
It has been great to see the return of the evergreen, Stevie G. A man who, in his own words, is never truly retired, has come back down to Sandal and his quality and experience has arrived at the perfect time for the 2s.
Stevie was phenomenal on Saturday, leading an inexperienced team around the field. Having played several games at National 2, it’s fantastic that Stevie feels as though he still wants to contribute, and we are very lucky to have his contribution.
The other standout player is Tom Wigston, affectionally known as ‘Wigi’. I am Giant and Lettie lutz from the greatest showman, Tom has been a wonderful addition.
He’s been dominant in the 2nd team and has received a much-deserved call up to the first team.
With the promised land of milk and honey always on the horizon, the boys are still very much enjoying ripping in. We still have great confidence that when we get it right there’s no team in this league that can live with us. There’s everything still to play for and everything is still very achievable.
The race for the top four is incredibly tight between 3rd and 5th, and we can still finish as high as 2nd if the results go our way.
I’d always fancy us in a knockout game and providing we get into the top four, no team will fancy playing us.
What must improve in the next month is the general availability of the senior squad. If this happens, then you may well have back-to-back Premiership Champions and once again be crowned the best 2nd team in Yorkshire and the Northeast.
Last time out - Scunthorpe v Sandal
A slightly different looking Sandal 2nd team travelled to Scunthorpe and put in a performance that had all the hallmarks of success over the last couple of years. A performance that everyone involved should be extremely proud of, which unfortunately ended in heartbreaking fashion.
After a late call-up to the 1st team, there were four under-18s in the starting team and to a player they all stood up. These boys weren’t just shirt fillers, they’ve trained the house down at senior training in recent weeks and will make a real claim to keep these shirts in future weeks. Great credit must go to the academy coaches, Richard Hoyland and Nick King, for identifying these players and for their coaching over the last number of years.
Sandal’s pack and particularly the scrum were exceptional. Will Booth, Charlie Beeney and Jack O’Hara were immense, and all played big minutes. AJ and Olly Heptinstall probably had their best games in Sandal shirts and Stevie G led the team brilliantly from number eight.
Sandal’s points came from tries by Jay Kay and George Hulme, with Ben Vickers kicking a couple of penalties and a goal.
With 10 minutes to go, Sandal led 18-12 and had defended everything Scunthorpe had thrown at them. Driving mauls were thwarted; Scunthorpe's tap penalty move was repelled and in the second half, whenever their backs got the ball, they were crushed by Scott Seckham and Freddie Lambert.
However, in the final play with malnourished numbers, it eventually became too much, and Scunthorpe took advantage to score next to the posts. The conversion was successful, and they won the game 19-18.
A losing bonus point was the least Sandal deserved, but it keeps them in good shape to make the play-offs at the end.
Final score - Scunthorpe 19 Sandal 18
The debutants came from Chris Atkinson, Harry Roper and Joel Adams. Tom Wigston has featured already for the first team this season, but he started his first game away at Percy Park.
A second team season is always a rollercoaster based on availability across the senior teams, holidays, family commitments and everything else in between.
Against Scunthorpe, there were 19 players unavailable that had or could play in the 1st team. While this obviously impacts the 1st team, there is almost double the impact on the 2nd team.
With that being said, the second team were still somehow extremely competitive on Saturday and still had it all to play for.
It has been great to see the return of the evergreen, Stevie G. A man who, in his own words, is never truly retired, has come back down to Sandal and his quality and experience has arrived at the perfect time for the 2s.
Stevie was phenomenal on Saturday, leading an inexperienced team around the field. Having played several games at National 2, it’s fantastic that Stevie feels as though he still wants to contribute, and we are very lucky to have his contribution.
The other standout player is Tom Wigston, affectionally known as ‘Wigi’. I am Giant and Lettie lutz from the greatest showman, Tom has been a wonderful addition.
He’s been dominant in the 2nd team and has received a much-deserved call up to the first team.
With the promised land of milk and honey always on the horizon, the boys are still very much enjoying ripping in. We still have great confidence that when we get it right there’s no team in this league that can live with us. There’s everything still to play for and everything is still very achievable.
The race for the top four is incredibly tight between 3rd and 5th, and we can still finish as high as 2nd if the results go our way.
I’d always fancy us in a knockout game and providing we get into the top four, no team will fancy playing us.
What must improve in the next month is the general availability of the senior squad. If this happens, then you may well have back-to-back Premiership Champions and once again be crowned the best 2nd team in Yorkshire and the Northeast.
Last time out - Scunthorpe v Sandal
A slightly different looking Sandal 2nd team travelled to Scunthorpe and put in a performance that had all the hallmarks of success over the last couple of years. A performance that everyone involved should be extremely proud of, which unfortunately ended in heartbreaking fashion.
After a late call-up to the 1st team, there were four under-18s in the starting team and to a player they all stood up. These boys weren’t just shirt fillers, they’ve trained the house down at senior training in recent weeks and will make a real claim to keep these shirts in future weeks. Great credit must go to the academy coaches, Richard Hoyland and Nick King, for identifying these players and for their coaching over the last number of years.
Sandal’s pack and particularly the scrum were exceptional. Will Booth, Charlie Beeney and Jack O’Hara were immense, and all played big minutes. AJ and Olly Heptinstall probably had their best games in Sandal shirts and Stevie G led the team brilliantly from number eight.
Sandal’s points came from tries by Jay Kay and George Hulme, with Ben Vickers kicking a couple of penalties and a goal.
With 10 minutes to go, Sandal led 18-12 and had defended everything Scunthorpe had thrown at them. Driving mauls were thwarted; Scunthorpe's tap penalty move was repelled and in the second half, whenever their backs got the ball, they were crushed by Scott Seckham and Freddie Lambert.
However, in the final play with malnourished numbers, it eventually became too much, and Scunthorpe took advantage to score next to the posts. The conversion was successful, and they won the game 19-18.
A losing bonus point was the least Sandal deserved, but it keeps them in good shape to make the play-offs at the end.
Final score - Scunthorpe 19 Sandal 18
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