Back Row L to R Rob Featherstone, Ellie, Ewan, Adam, Lucas, Tommy, Rufus, Ollie, Wilf, Sam, Charlie (CC), Ella, Neave, Rosie Hare (Medical)
Front Row L to R Johnny, Riley (CC), Adam, Ben, Alex, Riley, Ben, Jack.
Credit Rob Featherstone
Wednesday, 15th January 2025, is the date when Malton & Norton Rugby Club took the next step in its journey. Most will know that in the summer, we joined up with Malton School Sixth Form to deliver a rugby provision for students studying A-Levels or BTEC. Launched in October, we’ve had weekly rugby afternoons, both on-field and in strength & conditioning sessions, to help the current crop of players.
Back to yesterday, we hosted the established Scarborough Sixth Form in our first fixture. Our team yesterday was made up of young men: five who play for our Colts, ten who haven’t experienced rugby other than in school games, and two who have never held a rugby ball other than in school lessons. So yesterday’s game really was a step into the unknown, but I saw from session one on 16th October that all the lads have a lot of heart.
Yes, the result didn’t go our way, but the performance from all those in the 70th-anniversary “all black” kit was one to be proud of.
On match days, I aim to name co-captains—one from Year 13 and the other from Year 12—but the lads know that together, we expect leadership from all. Our on-field skipper will usually be the Year 13 captain, and yesterday it was Scarborough Athletics’ Riley, who is no stranger to us at Malton, having played mini and junior rugby up until a few years ago, when his football commitments took off. Riley commented after the game:
“It was a class runout for the lads. Considering we have only trained together for the first time a couple of months back, we look decent, to be honest. Still things to improve, but we look forward to the next few games we have coming up.”
Jack, who is brand new to competitive rugby union, mentioned:
“Despite the loss, we fought hard. As it was my first real game experience, I think we have great on-field chemistry. However, maybe a slight improvement in communication is needed. Fitness levels weren’t up to scratch, but that applied to both teams, as it was after Christmas. So maybe more S&C is needed.”
Playing on Pitch Four, we attacked uphill to begin with, Scarborough taking an early lead by reacting quicker to a knocked-down lineout. Ollie then powered over to level the game at 5-5, which it stayed for a good 20 minutes. Some brilliant attacking directional play from our fly-half, feeding our forwards time and time again, eventually created the chance to send his 12 and backline up the middle. However, fitness and a mistimed midfield tackle allowed S6F to score again, leading 5-12. A further two tries in the last five minutes of the first half extended their lead to 5-22.
Attacking downhill in the second half and employing similar phases of play from our 9 and 10, feeding big runners inside and out, we maintained possession for long periods. The more settled Scarborough XV rebuffed us until Ollie again picked and went for his second try. Adam added two points with a conversion, making it 12-22.
S6F then cycled and shuffled their players, adding fresh legs on the outside and eventually forcing over after a series of strong tackles, pushing the score to 12-27.
In the last five minutes, we went up field, and Sam tapped and went from a five-meter penalty, reaching for the line and scoring his first competitive try with Adam again adding another two, making it 19-27.
Straight from the restart, Scarborough recycled the ball left and then right, catching out our backs. A smart move by their backs sent their outside centre through close to the line, resulting in a final score of 19-34.
Try scorers:
- Ollie (2)
- Sam (1)
- Adam (2 conversions)
Some of the lads voted 3, 2, 1 for their Player of the Match:
1st: Sam – 17 points
2nd: Rufus – 12
3rd (joint): Riley and Ollie – 6 each
I’m a massive believer in peer-to-peer learning and 100% believe in a player-led environment. Our co-captains chose the team, led the warm-up, and are driving the off-field standards. Integral to continued growth will always be our Year 12 captain, who this year is Charlie Towse. He added last night:
“To see everyone coming together for the first game of the academy—and the first game for some people, full stop—was great to see. The supportiveness and backing of each other throughout the game were fantastic. We have a great base to build on moving forward for the rest of this academic year and into next. If you’re in Year 11 and looking to start or continue rugby development while studying A-levels or BTECs, I’d love to see you around next September.”
Our Two Ben's who are both new to rugby said respectively "Although I didn’t really know what I was doing too well at the start of the match as it was my first time playing, it was really enjoyable especially with such a good coach like Rob and team of great lads." and "just wanted to say that I was a bit apprehensive coming into this first game but having such a nice, supportive group of lads made it much easier and made me much more confident in myself."
Thank you to our three year 12 girls in the academy for joining us to run water and add pitch side support, also the students, family and supporters who came along. Thanks to Johnsey for refereeing and Rosie for adding pitchside medical support, Each player will now get an MRA legacy number, and playing stats will be kept.
Our next game is already in the book—we’re due to visit Silver Royd on Wednesday, 5th February, at 2 p.m. Keep an eye out for a game vs. an Ampleforth development team too.
