Season Opener

The weather at Didsbury Sports Ground did not disappoint, and neither did the U16 Didsbury Barbarians. This was the first time we have played Tarleton at this age level, and it was a well matched contest. It was clear from the kick off that Tarleton were a well drilled and physical team. Neither team committed numbers to defend rucks nor effectively counter-ruck to disrupt the oppositions ball, but Tarleton were always fast over the ball to jackal it from isolated Didsbury players and they had the advantage in this area of play.
The packs were well matched in scrummages, with fast ball coming out and strong carries from the base by Didsbury's captain and No. 8 Patrick. particularly exploiting the blind side.
Didsbury had the advantage in almost every lineout, either stealing opponents ball or gathering their own with a couple of there trademark driving mauls bringing them close to the line a couple of times. And it was one such move that brought us close enough in the first period for Jack Tabor to wriggle under the Tarleton defence for the first try of the match.
In the second period Didsbury rotated their players, introducing some new players and demonstrating the strength in depth of the Barbarians squad. The usual hard graft from the barbarians pack and strong running from the backs brought them into the 22. Although late out of bed, Logan arrived just in time to collect from a ruck and danced through the bodies to score under the posts, which he duly converted. Later in that period from a midfield set piece, the ball rippled along the backs to reach Malachy (Mal) who carried it into the 22. He cut back inside and was eventually stopped at the 5m line, but support from Conn saw him collect the offload and carry the remaining Tarleton defenders over for Didsbury's third Try.
Honours were even in the third period, with neither team scoring although Teddy spent some time getting better acquainted with the Tarleton front row. Up close, in a friendly sort of way.
The action was still very physical throughout the final period, but Didsbury Barbarians took one more try. Another confident and well executed phase of passing brought the ball to new player Malachi playing right wing in his first ever match. He juggled the pass, feinted right before pirouetting left and offloading to Logan who was able to charge over in the corner for his 2nd and Didsbury's 4th try of the game.

Overall it was a highly spirited performance, a satisfying start to the season and hopefully first of many successes.