SAINTS U16s suffered their first loss this season to a very impressive and very young Leeds side, writes Graham Henthorne.
The visitors were unfortunately better in most departments and out-enthused the Saints both in attack and defence. Led by their pair of big props Holroyd and Trout and backed up by a very aggressive second rower Mustapha they continually made yards up the middle of the park and stopped the Saints getting any roll on themselves.
Tom Nisbett continued his good form from the Hull game with a try saving tackle in the corner only to see some poor goal line defence two tackles later allow the hooker to dart over form dummy half close to the line.
Saints responded well with Captain Joe Sharratt and substitute Reece Jackson both held up over the line.
Sharratt then made a fantastic 60 metre break down the middle only to see the ball knocked on from the play the ball as eagerness overcame skills.
Callum Cooke was the next to threaten the Rhinos line after another good run from the impressive Ryan Horne. And it was from Horne’s play the ball at the line after he was stopped short that Paul Nash dummied his way over. Mike Wynn’s conversion locked the scores up at the interval.
The start of the second half has been the Saints’ Achilles heel so far this season but all seemed positive. There was no sign of the previous ills as the Saints took the game to the visitors.
However, a speculative last tackle grubber was totally missed by the normally reliable Dave Griffiths allowing the easiest of touchdowns.
The Saints came back again with Horne to the fore. The stand-off poked his nose through a gap and fed Sharratt and in turn Cooke for a great try only to see it chalked off for a questionable forward pass.
Griffiths saved a try as he and Luke Maloney-Ward tracked back to catch the Rhinos winger after 70 metre interception run.
Then came the latest in a series of bizarre decisions which saw the Rhinos given the scrum feed 10 metres from the Saints posts after a knock down was ruled a knock on. From the restart the Rhinos prop barged his way over at the sticks.
The Saints closed the gap with 15 minutes left courtesy of a couple of repeat sets from penalties. Louis Brogan was stopped inches short and from the play the ball Cooke stepped his way to the line.
It was too little too late, however, as the visitors finished the stronger.
This was a harsh lesson to learn for the Saints as they leave for the mid-season break, defeated on their own patch by a younger side who plainly wanted it more. They can only come out next time and prove it was the blip we all hope.
St Helens U16s:
Tries: Paul Nash (25), Callum Cooke (56).
Goals: Mike Wynn.
Leeds Rhinos U16s:
Tries: Eddie Wilcox (9), Kiedan Hartley (41), Tom Holroyd (51).
Goals: Harvey Spence 3.
Half Time: 6-6
Full Time: 10-18
Teams:
Saints:
1. Callum Cooke; 2. Jake Pass, 3. Luke Maloney-Ward, 4. Jake Sculthorpe, 5. Tom Nisbett; 6. Ryan Horne, 7. Lewis Gartland; 8. Louis Brogan, 9. Paul Nash, 10. Adam Hooper, 11. Ben Sims, 12. Joe Sharratt (C), 13. Matthew Ashcroft.
Subs: 14. Jake Wingfield, 15. Reece Jackson, 16. Sean Croston, 17. Sam Royle, 18. Christian Kellett, 19. Mike Wynn, 20. Dave Griffiths.
Leeds:
1. Kiedan Hartley; 2. Ben Selby, 3. Harry Newman, 4. Jack Broadbent, 5. Alfe Goddard; 6. Harvey Spence, 7. Corey Johnson; 8. Tom Holroyd, 9. Eddie Wilcox, 10. Owen Trout, 11. Muizz Mustapha, 12. Lewis Edwards, 13. Loui McConnell.
Subs: 14. Harrison Scott, 15. Henry Mitchell, 16. Jacob Rotheram, 17. Nathan Newbound, 18. Harry Georgiou.
