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Academy Shut Out the Giants
Huddersfield Junior Academy 0 v 52 St Helens Junior Academy
By Graham Henthorne, Team Manager
As the scoreline suggests this victory was built on a solid defensive display from 1 to 17. Very rarely did the Giants threaten the Academy’s 20 metre area let alone their line, but when they did, aggressive defence produced the error which kept the line intact.
This was evident from the first minute when, having been penalised for being offside at the kick off, the Academy withstood two sets of six before breaking out of defence.
It took over a quarter of an hour for the Saints to breach the home defensive line but when Nathan Ashe shot through the line the flood gates always threatened to open.
The Giants were then caught offside at the restart Captain Joe Molyneux punished them fully darting over from the play the ball after Danny Jones had been held short.
Then came the Lee Gaskell 40/20 show as the scrum half gave another masterclass in the art. From the first the Academy knocked on but minutes later Scott Hale gave a lovely show and go to go in down the left.
As the half drew to a close the Giants managed to exert a bit of pressure and looked to be opening their account in the left corner only for debutant Adam Barber to intercept and go 95 metres to score the killer try.
It took precisely 40 seconds of the second half for the Saints to increase their lead as Ashe’s wide ball found Adam Tatlock. The big winger shot down the flank before putting the supporting Tommy Makinson in for a great try.
The Giants were finding it increasingly difficult to deal with Saints blindside options and Tatlock himself was the beneficiary of good vision from Ashe and his centre partner Josh Jones.
The starting props were again in outstanding form and big drives from both Carl Forster and Anthony Walker set up the position for Scott Clarke to dart blind before feeding Josh Jones for a deserved score.
The call now was to keep the opposition scoreless and one of the best ways of doing that is to score yourself and three more tries in the final ten minutes really put the icing on the cake.
Two long passes from Ashe and Barber gave Scott Clarke room to shoot around the defence to score before Scott Hale scored a corker. He started the move on his own 30 metre line breaking through the line but gave it inside to Makinson too early putting him under pressure. With two tacklers on his back the full back managed to offload back to Hale who went the final 30 to score.
The tenth and last try was another piece of Molyneux opportunism after good work from Tom Fry and Rob Murphy.
This was a different outfit defensively to the one which nervously set foot on to the pitch in the first game of the season. The attack is coming together with lots of options to the playmakers and running off the ball but the biggest improvement is in the defence. The commitment to stopping the Giants scoring was first class and the talk and support from all the players was outstanding.
Now there’s just the small matter of a trip over Billinge lump next week!
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Huddersfield Junior Academy
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St Helens Junior Academy
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Huddersfield Junior Academy:
Tries:
Goals:
Saints Junior Academy:
Tries: Tom Makinson, Scott Clarke, Josh Jones, Adam Tatlock, Nathan Ashe, Joe Molyneux 2, Scott Hale 2, Adam Barber.
Goals: Tom Makinson 4, Adam Barber 2.
Half Time: 20-0
Full Time: 52-0
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