The inter-club match between the Under 9’s last weekend was one of those matches that teams look forward to being involved in.

Both teams looked to have saved some of their best form of the season for this game, with free flowing attacking play, excellent defence, and some great sportsmanship shown by both teams.

The Whites were able to get onto the board early when both Declan Cook and Brody put on three tries between them to get the Blacks on the back foot.

To their credit, the Blacks were able to rally, with Samuel in one of his trademark runs, going straight and hard through the middle put the Blacks in their best scoring position of the day.

Annabel Barber, who constantly hassled the team all day to clean out, then passed the ball out wide for Tray to go through and score the first of his two tries of the match.

The rest of the first half should have been a try-a-thon with the amount of running from both teams, however some outstanding defence lead by Simon on the Whites and Jack Jamison on the Blacks, saw many attacking movements shut down.

Inika Sainsbury injected herself into the game with some great work at the ruck, able to steal the ball several times.

Both TJ and Dougal were constantly cleaning out the ruck to give some clean ball for Jack Power and Charlie Miller to find some space.

Simon managed to round out the half for the Whites by scoring a try to round out the half with the Whites leading by five tries to two.

The second half started with the Blacks able to get on the board through Brody not long after the restart.

Digby showed some great initiative from the restart and caught the Blacks napping.

A quick tap saw him put his head back and score a fantastic try before the other side even knew what was going on.

Declan Gourlay continued to clean out all day giving the Whites some clean ball, allowing Jack Shannon to find some space out wide to run through and score.

Jack Kelly had his best game of the season and is really starting to find his way around the field. He was able to make several good runs up the field and was eventually reward with a try. Brody, who was now back on the Blacks, was able to score a couple more tries to add his tally for the day.

The final score saw the Whites take out the match 55 points to 25. This was one of those matches where the score didn’t reflect the quality of the rugby played by both sides, and many spectators commented on what a great game of football it was to watch.

Yass Rams Under 11’s vs Uni-Norths 

The Yass Rams Under 11’s played at home on Saturday against Uni-Norths in the top of the table clash.

The Owls had inflicted the Rams’ only loss of the season to a second division club back in May, so this match was keenly anticipated by both sides.

The first five minutes were fiercely contested with neither side taking a backward step. It was rough and tumble at the breakdown with both sides trying to get the upper hand.

Eventually Yass secured some clean ball with Baxter Sicily making the most of it with a clean break through the Uni-Norths defence leading to the opening try under the posts for Yass. The conversion by Maurie Hyles made it 7-0 after five minutes.

Shortly after the restart, Maurie Hyles made a great break for the Rams. Maurie has a great swerve and step which were on display for all to see.

The Owls only saw the back of Maurie as he sprinted away to score under the posts. After converting his own try, it was 14-0 to the Rams after 12 minutes of play.

This try seemed to galvanise the young Rams, who cranked it up a gear after the restart. Great ball security and hard work in the forwards protected possession for Yass.

The Yass front row, Monty Hyles, Jack Hardie and Sam McCrudden were incredibly impressive in the way they began to dominate the Owls pack.

Sam McCrudden deserves special mention, a new arrival at the Rams and to rugby this year, his technique has improved leaps and bounds.

Eventually Monty Hyles smashed through the middle of the Owls defence after a tap penalty. He sprinted the 45 metres to the line, swatting the defenders off like flies to score under the posts.

Baxter Sicily finished the first half the same way he started it with a second scintillating try under the posts. The conversion by Maurie Hyles saw the Rams head to oranges with a 28–0 lead over the stunned Owls.

The second half saw Uni-Norths come out firing, to their credit. A good early try, which was converted, saw the Owls cut the deficit to 21, sparking hopes of a comeback among the Uni-Norths supporters.

The hopes were short-lived. The Owls try shook the momentary complacency out of the Rams.

The Yass scrum was again rock solid, with Rafa Waugh and Clancy Ritchard locking the scrum impressively. Great technique and fierce rucking and mauling saw the forwards secure a mountain of possession for the Rams.

The pick and drive drills at training started to pay dividends with Monty Hyles crashing through the tiring Owls defence to help himself to a hat trick of tries in his game of the season so far.

When the Owls had possession, they were tackled into the ground, with the ball often being successfully counter rucked by the Rams forwards.

The Uni-Norths players will have nightmares about the number eight for the Rams, Clancy Ritchard, who is turning in to a tackling machine for the Under 11’s.

He was also impressive in attack today, throwing a great offload to Baxter Sicily after busting the Owls’ defence mid-way through the second half to set up Baxter’s third try for the game.

The backs also fired on the back of the forwards dominant display. As well as Maurie Hyles and Baxter Sicily’s usual heroics, good breaks were made by Jack Kelk, Rory Arneman, Angus Pack and Luke Hewlett. Rory Arneman and Luke Hewlett were strong in support. Judy Barry was again strong in defence.

The Owls didn’t stop trying in this game and were rewarded with a late try. The young Rams were red hot today though and much too good for the Owls in their team effort of the season so far.

Yass Rams 50 (Monty Hyles 3; Baxter Sicily 3 and Maurie Hyles 2 tries; Maurie Hyles 4 conversions; Baxter Sicily 1 conversion) defeated Uni-Norths Owls 12 (Josh Miller and Mathew Huckstepp tries; Tyler Boyd-Glover 1 conversion).