Bishop Auckland U13s produced an excellent all-round team performance away at Houghton, running in 12 tries across two 25-minute halves and showing some of their best rugby of the season so far.

Captained by Cameron, Bishop were outstanding during the opening half and went into the break six tries ahead.

The most pleasing aspect wasn’t simply the scoreboard, but how the tries were being created. The forwards were dominant around the contact area, securing quick ball with some excellent rucking and giving the team the platform to play at real pace. From there, Bishop attacked space, communicated well and consistently looked to play on the front foot.

There were some superb support lines, handling and offloading as Bishop repeatedly moved the ball across the pitch and into the wider channels. James and Leon caused plenty of problems through the centres, while Morgan was a constant threat from scrum-half with his sniping runs around the breakdown. At 10, Lucas controlled the game extremely well, organising both forwards and backs and helping Bishop play with structure rather than simply relying on individual runners.

Defensively, Bishop were equally impressive for long periods. Eli was outstanding over the ball and continued to be a real threat at the breakdown, while Harley seemed to be absolutely everywhere. Charlie and James both produced some huge tackles, and Lucas made an outstanding try-saving tackle when Houghton looked certain to score.

There was also a huge amount of work that won’t necessarily appear on the scoresheet. The work rate from Ewan, Eli, Owen, Marcus, Jacob, Harley and Elijah in the forwards was a massive step forward from our previous outing. Their willingness to work, get back into position and go again gave the rest of the team the opportunity to play. Thomas also showed excellent discipline in sticking to his role out wide, stretching the defence and creating space inside for his teammates.

There are still things to work on. At times our centres were drawn too far into the contact area instead of holding their positions and trusting the players inside them to make the tackle. Against a side capable of moving the ball quickly, that can create dangerous overlaps. That’s an important next step for this group: know your job, hold your position and trust the player alongside you to do theirs.

Houghton deserve enormous credit for the way they responded. They never stopped competing and were rewarded for their effort with five well-worked tries of their own. Most importantly, the game was played in excellent spirits. Both teams competed hard, showed respect for one another and shook hands afterwards, exactly how age-grade rugby should be played.

Try Scorers:

- Leon ×4
- Morgan ×5
- Cameron ×2
- Charlie ×1

Awards:

Back of the Match: Lucas
Forward of the Match: Harley
Player of the Match: Harley

A huge thank you once again to Admire Fitness and The Loft for their continued support of the players and the work they have put into helping develop the boys.

Plenty still to improve, but this was a significant step forward in the way this group wants to play rugby.

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