The Corcoran Steel U15 Young Cherrypickers travelled to Tumut just before the Easter break and found themselves in a ding-dong battle for the premiership points.
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Young were well prepared for reigning premiers Tumut and threw everything at their opponents but eventually fell short by two points at full time
Young was first on the board with man of the match Harry Fitzpatrick breaking the Tumut line to run 80 metres to score.
Thomas McIllhatton converted the try which put Young up six- nil.
Club publicity officer Brooke McIllhatton said the team looked good at this stage of the match but silly errors let Tumut back into the game.
“Young were their own worst enemy on the day with numerous dropped balls in their own half which allowed Tumut to hit back at us,” she said.
After our opening try they scored two quick tries.
“The Young defensive line felt the pressure from a massive tackle count and the warm weather.”
Mrs McIllhatton said the Cherrypickers rallied just before halftime and supporters thought a win was on the cards.
“Our Centre Nick Jenkins made a great run and got the ball on to Blake Coombes who out ran the fullback to score,” she said.
“Ethan Newham converted the try so at half time the score was 12 all and supporters were excited.”
But after half time the Cherrypickers poor ball handling continued to keep them under pressure.
“When Tumut finally scored in the second half they took the lead 18-12 and time was ticking away for the Cherrypickers to mount another charge at the try line,” Mrs McIllhatton said.
“But in what is a good sign for the season ahead our boys did not give up and with seven minutes remaining Ben Baker skipped out of dummy half to beat two defenders to pass to BJ Flick who crossed in the corner.
“Tom McIllhatton’s conversion went over the top of the upright and was deemed unsuccessful by officials.
“Young continued to gain the upper hand after finally receiving some penalties but our boys couldn’t manage to score to win the match.”
The final score was Tumut 18 defeated Young 16.
“It was a fantastic game of footy with Fitzy, Charlie Butt and new recruit Jai Purdie all playing well,”Mrs McIllhatton said.
“If the boys can cut out their errors they will definitely be a premiership contender at the end of the year.”
Club News
It was a fantastic game of footy.
- Brooke McIllhatton
The Young Cherrypickers will start back this week with a Friday night club game and the representative teams travel Saturday to take on Wagga.
Reminders
Brooke McIllhatton reminded coaches to email her their match results either on game day or before Tuesday.
“That is the best way we can get reports in the paper,” she said.
“We all know that the kids love reading their names and seeing photos of themselves in action in the paper.”