Defence was on fire with terrific tackles by Phillip, Harry, Digby and Declan. We also saw some powerful sprints down the wing by Charlie, Katie and Dougal. All up a brilliant team effort and a terrific game to watch! 

Score: Wests Blue 30 def Yass 20

Yass Rams under 11’s travelled to Red Hill on a cold and wet day to play Grammar in the second game of the 2018 season.

The first 10 minutes were tightly contested before Owen Hopwood made a clean break down the left side leaving 5 Grammar defenders in his wake to open the scoring. The Rams were up 5-0.

The big Rams forwards then started to crank it up. Monty Hyles made three punishing runs off penalties, terrorising the Grammar boys with his hard, straight running.

The Rams put multiple phases together, building pressure. A promising raid down the left edge saw new recruit, Jack Kelk throw a great inside ball to Angus Pack who wrong footed the Grammar defence, pinned his ears back and dived in scoring under the posts. Maurie Hyles added the extras, 12-0 to Yass.

Grammar then fought back and scored a good try after a sustained passage of play.

From the subsequent kick off, Owen Hopwood stole a turn over David Pocock would have been proud of and Baxter Sicily saw a hole on the blind side, sprinting off to score under the posts.

At oranges, the Rams lead the home side 19-5.

The opening of the second half saw the Rams tenaciously defending their line under relentless Grammar attack. Grammar crossed the line but the committed Rams forwards held up the would-be scorer forcing a 5-metre scrum.

The big Rams pack then cranked it up a gear, winning a tight head against the feed and setting the slick Rams backs off on a counter attack.

Maurie Hyles made a clean break after a number of good phases of play, scoring at the other end of the field. He converted his own try putting the Rams up 26-5.

Grammar appeared a little deflated by this score. Yass ran in a further 3 tries, two to Baxter Sicily and one to Own Hopwood.

Both boys showed great individual skill to capitalise on a dominant display by the Yass forwards, who did great work in the second half to close down Grammars hopes by starving them of the ball.

All in all, a great team effort by Yass. All of the forwards hunted as a pack with Rafa Waugh, Alex Scanlan, Clancy Ritchard and Monty Hyles all having solid games.

Stand out performances of note were from new recruit Samuel McCrudden and old hand Jack Harding whose cleanouts and general scrummaging in the second half ensured Yass had a pile of ball to work with.

In the backs, try scorers Baxter Sicily, Owen Hopwood and Maurie Hyles all had great games.

They were well supported by Angus Pack, Rory Arneman, Jude Barry and Luke Hewlett. New recruit Jack Kelk made a number of clean breaks in a solid performance.

Fortunately, the early showers cleared for most of the game. The boys travel to Lyneham next week to take on Uni-Norths. The early signs are that this could be a great year for the Rams!

Yass 43 (Baxter Sicily 3; Owen Hopwood 2; Angus Pack and Maurie Hyles tries; Maurie Hyles 3 conversions; Baxter Sicily 1 conversion) defeated Grammar 5 at Red Hill.

The Under 12 Rams played Easts at Curtin and went down 41 to 12. The score didn’t reflect the closeness of the game with the Rams being right in the contest throughout the match.

A great try was scored early in the match by Ben Robertson to put the Rams in an early lead. Charlie Hall followed this up in the second half with a try scored on his debut. The Rams forwards had a great game with Charlie Hall, Ben Robertson and Jack Field tough in defence and attack. The backs played well with Malakai Vea having a great game and Owen Hughes being among the best.

The points this week went to;

3 pts: Charlie Hall

2 pts: Malakai Vea

1 pts: Ben Robertson

All of the boys played well and we look forward to a tough match against Bateman’s Bay next week.