U 7’s rugby
Game 1
Newcastle 5 Leek 6
Leek under 7’s travelled the short distance to Newcastle and emerged victors in both closely contested matches. Both sets of coaches agreed to two eight aside matches which left the leek team devoid of replacements. Leek handed a debut to newcomer Christian Tattum and he found it a baptism of fire as after five minutes the Leek youngsters trailed 3-2 at half time, Leeks tries coming from two weaving runs from Harry Byrne. The half time team talk must have hit home as within three minutes of the restart tries from Sam Heath and Tyler Heath saw Leek nudge into the lead. Christian Tatttum showed his potential with some crucial tagging. Both sides were evenly matched and the game appeared to heading for a draw as Newcastle drew level with a well worked try of their own. Leek then took the lead again following a further Harry Byrne try only for Newcastle to pull another try back. With only seconds remaining on the clock George Bailey made an incisive run to cut inside from the left only to be tagged a few strides from the line but his quick offload to Tyler Heath left Tyler with a simple run in to give Leek a well-earned win.
Game 2
Newcastle 7 Leek 9
Two players who had a quiet game in the first match definitely came to life in the second. Freddy Burgess and Noah Reaney scored three tries each as Leek were the much more dominant of the two sides. Christian Tattum crowned his debut with a fine try following a strong run down the right. Noah Reaney and Freddy Burgess chipped in with one apiece as Leek were 3 up with barely four minutes on the clock. Newcastle seemed to take a while to respond as Leek went further ahead with a try by the tireless Reaney. Leek’s concentration waivered a minute before half time as Newcastle finally came to the party and chipped in with two quick tries. At half time Leek lead 4-2. Leek were in danger of losing their lead after the break as Newcastle hit back with a fine individual try. It then became time for the Freddy Burgess show who’s fine direct running was rewarded with two further well deserved tries. Noah Reaney added to his tally following a fine pass from Josh Nadin. Harry Byrne took his tally to four for the day and his sides total to nine and Sam Heath scored his second try of the day following his excellent follow up play. Newcastle showed some spirit to finish the game 9-7 down although Leek performed much better in this second game.