Early on this damp Sunday morning the Terriers travel en-mass up the A34 to Trentham. On what was looking like a muddy heavy pitch, the coaches reiterated to the players to play with pace and their heads up. It didn’t take long after the kick off to action that plan. Connor tapped the ball back and the boys pouncing on the loose ball quickly recycled the ball. Dylan fed the ball out to Jonah who straightened up the line and fed Dex who broke a tackle with great hands inside to Alfie who steamed through some loose tackles to score under the posts 0-7. Will B hitting the conversion.

The restart Kick off didn’t quite work for the home team and ended up being a scrum in the centre of the pitch to Stafford. However we secured a nice ball for the backs in which they recycled quickly following good hands and lines being run, ending up with Leon spotting a gap and bursting through to score. Will B conversion 0-14.

Trentham were now starting to come back into the game and were awarded a penalty kick for their good work at the breakdown, which they kicked to touch. However, in the resulting Line out the ball didn’t go to Trentham hands because Dex and Harry H put the 9 and 10 under a great amount of pressure and our defensive line shot up quickly with Cayden securing the turnover ball. Will B and Fin H spotting a numerical advantage on the blindside quickly altered the call to Dylan and with a delicate chip over the top from Will, Fin H was on his way to chase down the kick which he did unbelievable well to keep himself and the ball in play with foot work good enough to grace the floors of Strictly Come Dancing (even Craig Revel Horwood would have got his 10 paddle out for that). That bit of skill got what it deserved, with a great opportunistic try scored underneath the posts. Will B conversion 0-21.

After a long passage of play in which both teams moved the ball up and down the pitch, Stafford conceded a penalty kick. The Trentham number 10 for penalty kick did not make touch and after a number of hard carries by our tireless forwards and the speed of our ruck we were able to move Trentham from side to side of the pitch with the ball ending up in the hands of Leon. With a couple of steps he was through and scored again. No conversion: 0-26.

Another passage of play which became an arm wrestle between both teams, came to an end with the ball being knocked on and resulting in a Trentham scrum. Stafford where able to turn the ball over, capitalizing on the mistake and putting the Stafford backs into full flow again. The ball ended up in Connors hands and carrying it in two hands he caused confusion in the defence followed by simple hands through to Leon to give him a nice easy walk-in try. But this wouldn’t have been made as easy if it weren’t for the dummy lines run by so many of his teammates, it was great to watch. No conversion 0-31.

From the next phase of play the tireless work from the forwards in the ruck making themselves nuisances, resulted in a penalty to Stafford. From the resulting line out we again showed great skill sets to work the overlap on the far touchline, only to be thwarted by a knock on. From that scrum Stafford turned the ball over and again with the work in the breakdown making a clean ball to Dylan so that he could move the ball to Will B quickly, who’s dummy passed and broke the line and a couple of tackle, with an offload to Leon. Try time conversion big Will 0-38 and with that the half ends.
So on to the second half and as always there’s a raft of changes, (next season can we chip the lads to keep a record it will be a lot easier than pen and paper).

Following a penalty for a high tackle on Cookie Jnr, Will B takes the terriers down into the Trentham 22. A well worked line out drops the ball into WVN’s hands and under pressure feeds a big run from Mason who burst through to put the defence on the back foot. Stafford forwards probing the defence and moving the opposition from one side to the other to try and find a chink in their Armor. A quick ruck and Jonah crashes over for a thunderous lung, bursting three-meter dash to the tri-line. No conversion 0-43

Apologises I’m at a bit of a blank for the next passage of play as I was pre-occupied with Cookies clip board and subs. But I have been reliably informed though that a Mr M Banton steps 4 defenders with an outrageous dummy and quick feet, he then sits down a 7ft giant and dashed for 30 meters for a try to the left of the posts. Will B conversion 0-50

After a competitive passage of play, well done to Trentham boys as they never stopped or let their heads drop. Our forwards doing the ugly stuff round the breakdown allows the roar of RHINO from Jack and he breaks through defensive line, massive strides to the tri-line swallowing up the meters. Jack scores under the posts and Will B completes the game with drop goal conversion. The Trentham coaches had seen enough and the game was called with 12 minutes left to play. Final score 0-57
The coaches asked the lads to step up to the plate, increase the intensity and work for each other. They did this in spades and played as a team. What also made us really proud was their attitude throughout the game: - Boys you are getting it, it’s not about scoring for yourselves it’s about your team scoring.
There are so many players that we could mention that influenced the game, Matty T for his boundless energy and getting to the breakdown all the time, Conner trusting his skills and carrying the ball in two hands and making defenders question what’s he going to do. Dex quick thinking at breakdowns, Dylan’s calm head marshalling the attacks, Fin H manoeuvring his defenders round the pitch. Jonah’s engine and Harry H calming influence. All 24 of you should be proud of yourselves.
But the man of the match award today for his selfless play and most importantly clear and early communication and maturity - Will B.
Now time for a quote of inspiration, I racked my brains and remembered “You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits.” —Michael Phelps.
Onwards to the last home game of the season and someone we haven’t played in years Newport. Let’s keep this progression going lads.