A cold and fresh morning saw Aire travel to Bradford Salem for a last minute arranged fixture after the Christmas break and weather had held rugby at bay for far too long, and the lads were raring to go.

After a brisk warm up, some simple tackling, rucking and passing drills ensured, followed by some game plan.

At the first whistle Aire dominated, showing some superb rucking skills, and possibly the best communication between players this season. The RFU had announced Silent Sunday initiative, meaning that parents were to remain quiet and simply clap positive play. This applied to the coaching staff too, who had no further input into the game, other than to manage injuries and substitutions. This lack of input seemed to have a huge positive effect on Aire, who self-regulated very well and displayed some very mature rugby. Certainly food for thought for the parents and coaching staff alike.

Tries were thick and fast in the first half, the forwards dominating at the breakdown, and some superb running by MT, linking up with CP on one occasion to produce a very well worked offload and try. JD at scrum half linked up excellently with JM on the blindside to create two very electric runs that Salem struggled to defend, the second leading to a team try.

In the second half, injuries and fatigue started to take their toll, and Salem began to push back into the game scoring two quick tries and converting for the bonus points. Eventually however, the balance was restored and Aire finished on a high with another excellent try form MT diving for the corner flag.

All in all a good morning at Salem, and some good hosting by the home side

Dan