Digicel Middle School Rugby League Kicks Off
The Digicel Middle School League kicked off this past Thursday with Dellwood taking on Sandys and Warwick Academy hosting Saltus Grammar.
It has been a difficult few days for the local rugby community with the sudden passing of coach Devrae Noel-Simmons, and as such the schedule game of TN Tatem vs Whitney Institute was postponed.
The first game up was Dellwood taking on the Sandys Middle School team at National Stadium. Sandys, under the guidance of Coach Chris Naylor, have been consistent performers. Coach Patrick Calow said he knew that Dellwood would be in for a tough challenge for both U12 and U14 games.
This certainly proved to be the case, with the U12 game starting a great pace with both teams playing attacking rugby. Dellwood fought back with some abrasive running from Xa-naje Degraff–Cyruss and Tukijie Eve, the Dellwood U12’s began to game some good ground, however they struggled to convert these chances.
Khyree Hollis was a thorn in the Dellwood side all afternoon with great footwork and excellent pace he was rewarded with a try mid-way through the game. Closely after this Thomas Westhead scored a wonderful try. The final score was 10-0 to Sandys U12’s .
Following the U12 game, the U14 teams took the pitch. Coach Chris Naylor had brought a large squad for both games. Sandys were the dominate team for the start with early tries from Yizariyah Williams [2] and Ethan Fubler.
Dellwood, who were missing a few experienced players on the day, did their best to compete with the strong Sandys team with some excellent defense from Kenyadae and Keshun Butterfield.
However, some barnstorming carries from Kenjae Smith, Sekai Wainwright and further scores from Rayne Kowalchuk and Jerziah Dillput the game beyond Dellwood. The final score was a 35-0 victory to Sandys U14.
Also that afternoon, Warwick Academy hosted Saltus Grammar. On Thursday Warwick played two matches [U12 & U14] against Saltus. Coach Christopher Stafford of Warwick took a young squad made up entirely of year 7 players, were competing in their first full contact game for the school.
Saltus were first on to the attack and ran hard at the Warwick defence. Hard hits and solid defending allowed Warwick to grow into the game. Jamin Hodgkins Joe Watson and Najiyah Raynor took control, creating gaps in the Saltus defence.
Where there were no gaps, Ryan Manders ran hard and punched holes. It was not long before Warwick scored, after which the flood gates opened and Warwick finished the half 6-2 in the lead.
The second half was totally dominated by the Warwick team. Good tackling and constant pressure from Sebastian Cronin and Jack Thorpe allowed Warwick to shut out the opposition and the skill and experience of Joe, Kris Cameron and Jamin allowed us to run in tries at will finishing an overwhelming 15 scores to 2.
Some of the Dellwood and Sandys players with Digicel Middle School Shirts
The U14 team found themselves up against a much larger and physical Saltus side and due to late withdrawals had to play the game without any subs. Warwick tackled hard for the first ten minutes but could not get their hands on the ball. With excellent line breaks from Blair Blakeney and Dylan Somerville.
Eventually the pressure on the Warwick defence told and they conceded the first try of the game by Saltus’ Cameron De Ste Croix. This shook Warwick into action and hard running by Adam Kiernan and Sean Tucker and good link up play from Steven Camara and Matthew Daniel got Warwick back into the game with a good score. Senoj Mitchell nearly managed to work a good breakaway score, but was denied by a foot in touch.
However, hard running from Kristian Singh saw him score in the corner giving Warwick the half time lead. Saltus came back in the second half, hard straight running from and good handling skills to put Blair Blakeney into space for a try. This brought the score to 4-4.
Warwick hit back again with two more well worked scores but in the end, the fact that Warwick were without any replacements to freshen things up eventually let Saltus creep back in to the game, scoring with the last move of the game by Dylan Somerville to deny Warwick the win they had worked hard for. Final score 6-6.
The full Point Standings follow below:
The upcoming fixtures:
- 1 – Tuesday 28th January, 2014 – Dellwood vs Sandys – 4.15pm
- 1 – Thursday 16th January, 2014 – TNT vs Whitney – 4.15pm
- 1 – Thursday 16th January, 2014 – Saltus vs Warwick – 4.15pm
- 2 – Thursday 30th January, 2014 – Warwick vs Dellwood – 4.15pm
- 2 – Thursday 30th January, 2014 – Whitney vs Saltus – 4.15pm
- 2 – Thursday 30th January, 2014 – Sandys vs TNT – 4.15pm
- 3 – Thursday 6th February, 2014 – Dellwood vs Whitney – 4.15pm
- 3 – Thursday 6th February, 2014 – Saltus vs TNT – 4.15pm
- 3 – Thursday 6th February, 2014 – Warwick vs Sandys – 4.15pm
- 4 – Thursday 27th February, 2014 – Dellwood vs Saltus – 4.15pm
- 4 – Thursday 27th February, 2014 – Warwick vs TNT – 4.15pm
- 4 – Thursday 27th February, 2014 – Sandys vs Whitney – 4.15pm
- 5 – Thursday 13th March, 2014 – Dellwood vs TNT – 4.15pm
- 5 – Thursday 13th March, 2014 – Whitney vs Warwick – 4.15pm
- 5 – Thursday 13th March, 2014 – Saltus vs Sandys – 4.15pm
