FOUR tries in the first eight minutes set the tone for the outcome of this, one of the most one sided games the Saints have been involved in, writes Graham Henthorne.
Sean Croston opened the scoring within the first minute taking a rebound from the top of the pads from Lewis Gartland’s high kick.
We were then treated to a display of the raw power of the Saints pack when up against very young and inexperienced players.
Jordan Olmez took the restart 50 metres and four tackles later delivered a fabulous offload to allow debutant Jake Pass to stand up his opposite number before putting Jordan Gibbons in.
Olmez again started and this time finished the next move and from the restart his rampaging pack partner Jorge Lewtas took the restart, stormed back before feeding Kevin Brown to go the final 60 to the corner.
Brad Pinder’s dart out of dummy half put Elliott Jenkins under the posts before Gibbons shot down the blind side for his second.
Croston then showed his pace as he again scored direct from the kick off going 80 metres to score.
Croston again ran the restart back for 50 metres and three tackles later the defence were running away from the sight of big Robbie Horton charging at them.
Eight tries in 20 minutes and the Saints were running at more than 2 points a minute!
Further tries to Croston to complete a great hat-trick, another to Jenkins and one to a startled looking Paul Nash plus 10 Gibbons conversions almost managed to complete the 2 points a minute scoring rate.
After such dominance in one half it’s always difficult to replicate that same atmosphere afterwards but the Saints tried their best scoring four more tries in the first ten minutes of the half.
Two debutants opened the scoring in the second period. Sam Royle scored his first in the red vee outpacing the cover to the corner to the delight of his small fan club.
Then Evan Bullen showed pace to go with his obvious tackling power (ask the Cumbrian lad who felt the full force of that before the break) as he broke the line and then pushed off and outpaced the full back to the corner. His second came after another 30 metre run and quick play the ball from Horton.
Callum Hazzard ran in the Saints 14th try from 60 metres out making the score 84 after only 46 minutes.
The scoreboard then got to the players a little as they tried too hard to get the century and the errors started to come. Consequently only two tries in the last 24 minutes to Olmez and the aptly named Jake Pass on the wing meant the score stayed in double figures.
What can you say? Four debutants and still a very young side. It would be churlish to look for a down side when for 50 minutes all was rosy but the test in the second half was to keep the high standards of the first going and that didn’t happen.
However, scoring 94 points in 70 minutes against any opposition takes some doing, so well done to all 20 players.
Match Summary:
St Helens U16s:
Tries: Kevin Brown, Sean Croston 3, Jordan Gibbons 2, Jake Pass, Elliott Jenkins 2, Jordan Olmez 2, Paul Nash, Callum Hazzard, Sam Royle, Evan Bullen 2, Robbie Horton.
Goals: Jordan Gibbons 10, Lewis Gartland 3.
Cumbria U16s:
Tries:
Goals:
Half Time: 64-0
Full Time: 94-0
Teams:
Saints:
1. Kevin Brown; 2. Jacob Cummings, 3. Sean Croston, 4. Jordan Gibbons, 5. Jake Pass; 6. Lewis Gartland, 7. Elliott Jenkins; 8. Jordan Olmez, 9. Brad Pinder, 10. Tom Pinder, 11. Danny Edwards, 12. Chris Follin, 13. Jorge Lewtas.
Subs: 14. Paul Nash, 15. Sam Royle, 16. Callum Hazzard, 17. Ben Twist, 18. Evan Bullen, 20. Joe Sharratt, 21. Robbie Horton.
Cumbria:
1. Jake Parker; 2. Matty Farley, 3. Aiden Wright, 4. Matt Shepherd, 5. Lewis Mason; 6. Liam Williamson, 7. Owen Hoyles; 8. John Irving, 9. Ellison Holgate, 10. Danny Wright, 11. Jake Pearce, 12. Louis Fearon, 13. James Wallis.
Subs: 14. Ethan Williams, 15. Kyle Evans, 16. Aaron Hutchman, 17. Dennis Beyhtki.
