1st XV
Matches
Sat 14 Sep 2019  ·  Yorkshire Three
Aireborough RUFC
1st XV
35
55
Halifax Vandals
An entertaining afternoon at Nunroyd

An entertaining afternoon at Nunroyd

Gemma Birbeck18 Sep 2019 - 09:16
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Full Time 35 - 55

A sunny September's day saw soaring temperatures, hard ground and plenty of running rugby in what would transpire to be an entertaining afternoon of rugby.
Having failed to cross the whitewash the week before away at Rotherham, Aireborough wanted to atone however were up against a very large and in form Halifax Vandals side.
Early exchanges with some crunching tackles, this was going to be a nip and tuck sort of game......... How wrong could we be?
The first try came from the visitors, exploiting space on the left-hand side to register their 1st try of the game, conversion successful 0 - 7.
Aireborough looked shell-shocked and soon were on the wrong side of another try, the same side, the same result, this time the chasing Kris Brook pulled up with a knock he received in the warm-up. The conversion was successful, 0 - 14.
The wolfpack woke up momentarily with some strong runs and good continuity, the ball found the hands of Adam Jackson and he ran in to post the first points of the game for the home side. Taking over the kicking duties, Jackson successfully converted his try to make the score 7 - 14. Game on.
Aireborough lost their 2nd back of the game when Rob Johnson clashed heads with a Vandals player leaving him with blood pouring from a wound sustained to his face. He would play no more part in the game.
Vandals bounced back quickly and were soon back on the scoresheet courtesy of some big forward drives and getting the ball down close enough for another successful conversion attempt. 7 - 21.
Some really good moments followed for Aireborough, and lovely handling down the left saw Harry Beckwith sneak in for a try, Jackson again on point with the boot made the score 14 - 21.
The rest of the first half saw Halifax run in 3 more tries as they exploited the Aireborough right-wing defence.
Half Time 14 - 38
In the half time team talk, the chat remained positive, we knew we would be chasing the game but the 1st focus was to get 2 more tries to get a bonus point. Not necessarily throwing caution to the wind but it was agreed that less kicking and more running would be in order. Also, the defence was talked about as a tightening up was definitely needed.
Aireborough started the 2nd half better and were on top of the collisions with their Halifax counterparts despite the obvious difference in size.
Deep inside their own half, Aire decided to run the ball, it was shipped out to Charlie Wilson who showed a clean set of heels against his opposing winger, Jonny Mackey was in support and after some sublime hands, Mackey delivered an outrageous around the back pass to put Wilson in for what was the try of the match. Jacko was not missing with his kicks and added the 2 to make the score 21 - 38. Dare we dream?
A few heated exchanges between the teams ensued with big carries from Jackson and Exley, crunching tackles by Will Girt and Lewis Eastwood stopping the opposition in their tracks.
The next try came from Aireborough, another attack from deep, Mikey Dolan (now playing in the centre) spotted a gap and put the hammer down. He rounded the fullback and scored under the posts, Jackson converted to make the score 28 - 38.
Vandals were shocked into action and following a string of attacks, forced a penalty out of a now tiring Aireborough side. A sign of respect maybe on this occasion saw them opting to kick for goal, adding the 3 and taking the game a little bit away from Aireborough 28 - 41
Then came 5 minutes where Aireborough fell asleep seeing Vandals recording 2 tries from breakaway situations, the score now 28 - 55 and out of Aireborough’s reach.
The talk under the posts was to finish on a high, get the last score and take our attacking form into next week. With that, Aire soon had possession, again Mikey Dolan was on hand, cutting a good line and breaking the Vandals defence. He dotted over the line for his 2nd try which again was converted by Jackson who managed 5 out of 5 on the day.
Full Time 35 - 55

An entertaining afternoon at Nunroyd but definitely more to work on for the boys in claret and blue.
Man of the Match: Mikey Dolan, starting at 7 and moving into the centres, worked tirelessly and was rewarded with 2 well-taken tries.
Moment of the Match: That try. Started and finished off by Charlie Wilson but unbelievable skills on show by Jonny Mackey in the closing stages.
Next week sees us travel to Castleford in what tends to always be an entertaining fixture.
See you there

Match details

Match date

Sat 14 Sep 2019

Kickoff

15:00

Meet time

13:30

Competition

Yorkshire Three

League position

2
Halifax Vandals
14
Aireborough
Team overview
Further reading