SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9s 20 - PILKINGTON RECS U9s 20 - 9th March 2008.

 

Captained by Brandon Earlam this was another close encounter but the Sharks dug deep in defence and ensured Pilks did not grab a try in the final minutes.

 

Coaches Award winner Kevin Brown scored one in both halves and Spectators Award winner Oliver Doran powered through for one but it was good ball distribution by Man of the Match Tom Darbyshire that put Tom Gray and George Bridge in for one each.

 

SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9s 20 - LANGWORTHY REDS U9s 8 - 2nd March 2008.

 

 

SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9’S 40- ST CUTHBERTS U9’S 32 - 24th Feb 2008.

 

 

SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9’S 36 NEWTON STORM U9’S 16 - 17th Feb 2008.

 

 

SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9S 28 LEIGH MINERS RANGERS U9S 28 - 10th Feb 2008.

 

 

SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9S 28 LATCHFORD ALBION U9S 12 - 3rd Feb 2008.

 

 

SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9s 28 – NEWTON STORM  U9s 12 - 27th Jan 2008.

 

Our thanks must go to the Newton Storm coaches, players and parents as a Newton Storm side that hadn’t played or trained since before Christmas were today’s surprise visitors following the cancellation of the scheduled fixture against Accrington.

 

In a game that was a shining example to good behaviour and sportsmanship both teams played without their coaches, while the Sharks blooded two of their new players, Alex Calland and Josh Chadwick, in their 14 man squad.

 

The coaches and team have worked hard over the past few training sessions on the defensive line, and this hard work was the main difference between the two sides. In the first set the Sharks’ defence held Newton out and the attack moved the ball quickly down the field with Tom Derbyshire unlucky not score following a scoot on the last tackle. Both team’s second set followed the same pattern, only this time Tom D managed to jink his way through the Newton defence to score his first try of the day.

 

Once again solid defensive work by Oliver Doran, Josh Caldwell and George Bridge held Newton out and this time some strong drives led to Conor Sheehan Jones making a long break, reaching over to firmly plant the ball down over the try line.

 

Newton once again drove the ball up the field but solid defensive line work by the entire team held them out for all six tackles. Alex drove for the line, but was held up short and on the next play Arron Molyneux passed to Tom D he cut back to the right and used his acceleration to race around the outside of the defence and beat the defenders to the corner to take the Sharks into a 12-0 lead.

 

The first round of substitutions brought a little more physique to the Sharks attack, and the big front three Tom Gray, Josh Taberner and Liam Fowler made their presence felt with Liam twice being stopped on the line by large numbers of Newton defenders. A couple of injuries to Chris King and Josh T disrupted the team a little and, after all of hard work in the first quarter of an hour, it was a little disappointing to see Newton sneak a try in the corner after too many Sharks defenders were drawn into the tackle, and a simple offload allowed them in to score.

 

The balance was restored just before half time when Jack Brogan (spectator’s award winner) found a gap between the Newton centre and winger and outpaced the entire Newton team in a foot-race to score in the corner.

 

Half-time Sharks 16-4 Newton.

 

Not for the first time the Sharks started the second half a little slowly and allowed Newton in to score.

 

After this early lapse both the attack and defence worked very hard, Josh Chadwick involved himself in defence and a number of more experienced players Chris, Josh Caldwell, George and Brandon all put in particularly impressive “team” performances, making good one-on-one tackles and taking the hard early drives. It was this hard work that set up Oliver, who was unlucky to have been deemed to have bounced the ball over the line. However, the score didn’t stay at 16-8 for long as Tom D scored in the corner to complete his hat-trick.

 

After being admirably covered by George on the right wing who picked up the MoM award for his strong tackling performance, Newton Storms’ fast winger made a break across to the opposite wing and finding players out of position she managed to elude Josh T despairing clutches to score a very well deserved try.

 

The Shark’s next try came following a long break by the “big man” Tom Gray, and his burst through the centre of the Storm defence and quick play the ball allowed Josh T to race the last 10M and, not to be outdone by Conor, stretch over to score.

 

The Shark’s final try came when Newton paid the price for a risky pass on the first tackle, when Liam “the poacher” intercepted the ball and dove over the line to score.

 

With the score at 28-12 both defences dominated the last few sets of the game, and the game ended on a Josh Chadwick drive up the touchline.

 

Final score: Shevington Sharks 28-12 Newton Storm.

 

There were a lot of positives that the team can take away from today’s match – the improvements in the defensive line, some intelligent calls by both of the half backs and players, Alex and Josh Chadwick’s debuts, and some excellent tackling by all of the team.

 

There were no “stand-out” performances in the tackling front as the workload was shared out between all of the team, however the top six tacklers were – Liam 18, Jack 16, Chris 13, George 11, Brandon and Oliver 10, and everyone else managed more than five tackles.

 

Shevington Sharks U9's - Clock Face U9's - 25th Nov 2007.

 

Never a side to make things easy for themselves, the Sharks once again conceded a try on Clock Face’s first attack. A looping run around the Shark’s left wing found acres of empty space, and even a last ditch attempted tackle by Oliver Doran couldn’t prevent this. This wasespecially disappointing after all of the work that had taken place this week on the defensive line.

 

Both sides knocked-on, before the Sharks twice came close to scoring when George Bridge was held out, and an offload to Josh Taberner from Tom Gray on the last tackle also ended up just short. Good defence by today’s top tackler Liam Fowler (20 tackles) and Man of the Match Tom Gray (19 tackles) forced Clock Face into another mistake near to their line, and on the next set Chris King and Josh Caldwell were both held back before Arron Molyneux scooted over to score from close in. The rest of the first half was a mixture of good defence from both sides, interrupted by a lot of handling errors (as fingers started to get cold). On the last set of the first half, an off-side decision and a penalty allowed Clock Face to pressurise the Sharks line, and despite their best efforts the defence were unfortunate to concede a last minute try following a jinking run from close in. Half-time score Clock Face 2-1 Sharks.

 

While the defensive performance of both teams was impressive in the first half, the Shark’s second half defensive effort was even better – and it was this that eventually won the game.

 

Once again solid defence from both Joshes, Conor Sheehan-Jones, George, and Chris King forced Clock Face into making an error, and two drives up field allowed Tom Gray to use his strength to force his way through the defensive line to score. The next few sets followed the same story, with good defence either holding Clock Face out for the full set of tackles or forcing them into handling errors. Good field position allowed Arron the opportunity to offload to Tom Derbyshire, who cut back inside to score in the corner. On the next attack Kevin Brown made a strong run from halfway, and he was unfortunate to bounce the ball over the try line. With the score at 2-3, and not long to go, the Sharks found themselves defending their line, and only a superb last ditch tackle by Oliver Doran and Liam Fowler managed to keep Clock Face out. On the final set of the day, Josh Taberner, Kevin Brown, and Chris King moved the Sharks up the field and on the final tackle Oliver Doran scooted over to score. Final score Clock Face 2-4 Sharks.

 

Overall it was a greatly improved defensive performance, only spoiled slightly by the number of unforced handling errors and penalties.

 

Team Kevin Brown (captain), Arron Molyneux, Tom Derbyshire, Tom Gray, Josh Taberner, George Bridge, Chris King, Josh Caldwell, Oliver Doran, Liam Fowler and Conor Sheehan-Jones.

 

Man of the Match – Tom Gray. Relishing his move to the middle of defence this was an outstanding and much improved defensive performance from Tom, making this one of the easiest awards of the season to hand out.

 

The spectators’ award went to Oliver Doran, who as well as working his “socks off” in defence and attack, was eventually rewarded with a try.

 

I thought long and hard about giving the coaches award to everyone this week as it was obvious that everyone had learnt something following Tuesday’s epic training session on defending the try line – I know it wasn’t fun. However Andy and I eventually decided that the coaches’ award winners would go to three players who demonstrated what had been taught and matched each other in the work they did in defence. It would have been unfair to pick a single winner as all three of them were covering towards the wings and each managed to make fourteen solid tackles - Tom Derbyshire, Kevin Brown and Chris King.

 

SHEVINGTON SHARKS U9's - 12 CHORLEY PANTHER U9's - 28 - 18th Nov 2007.

 

A very cold and wet game in which the winner would be the team that held on to the ball the longest.  Unfortunately for the Sharks this proved to be the Panthers.

 

Captained by Man of the Match Tom Darbyshire even the determined runs of Spectators Choice Joshua Taberner were not enough to break away from the Panthers defence and it was only a fast play the ball by George Bridge that allowed Arron Molyneux to side step through the defence and score the Shark's only try of the first half.  The Panther led at half time Sharks 4 - Panthers 12.

 

Driving back at the Panthers defence a more determined Sharks managed to get back into the game after the break momentarily when Oliver Doran took the ball on the first tackle and drove through the Panthers defence to get the ball down.  The Panther replied and even the sterling cover tackles from Coaches Award Winner Jack Brogan was not enough to keep the Panthers out.  The Sharks never gave up and a flurry of creative passing put the Sharks 20 meters from the Panther's line and Tom Darbyshire managed to scoot around the outside of the Panthers defence to slide over in the corner.  Although the Sharks were more determined in the second half the game finished Sharks 12 - Panthers 28.

 

Credit to both teams for not giving up in the wet, cold conditions. Well done!

 

Man of the Match Tom Darbyshire, Spectators Choice Joshua Taberner and Coaches Award Jack Brogan.  Tries Tom Darbyshire, Arron Molyneux and Oliver Doran.