Brilliant Bryer shines in exciting Castleford RUFC Girls match at Scarborough

This was another exciting and competitive game where the result was on a knife edge right up to the final minute.

The home team started well, probably through being used to the bracing condition of rain and a biting wind. They went ahead by two tries before Castleford clawed their way back with a try from Tally Bryer.

The forwards put in good shifts with Shania Lawrence, Lily Williams, Beth Spanner and Holly Hicks to the fore as in the previous week’s game. The midfield of Bobbie Wardy, Emily Heaps and Bryer impressed going forward and with their cover tackling.

It was an all-round solid team performance with everyone contributing, but the plaudits must go to Bryer whose defensive kicks gained good ground. Her tackling was first class and she scored a superb solo try, running from her own half, side-stepping tackles before a clever hitch kick and dummy to beat the last defenders.

The Cas girls got stronger as the game went on and the best was left to the last as good work by the forwards took them upfield from deep in their own half. After a quick tap penalty by Wardy the ball was fed to Heaps whose subtle pass caught Williams running a great line. Heaps then wrapped round before releasing Bryer to cross the line for her fourth try, allowing Wardy a simpler but still pressure conversion to end the game with a two-point difference.

It was the first outing of the season for Castleford RUFC U15s but you could not tell as they worked well together despite some playing their first game of union.

They made light of the wet and blowy conditions with Ebony Stead and Poppy Adams leading the side well. Try scorers were Stead (7), Adams (5), Harriet Hirst (2) Frankie Blakey (2) with

Olivia Screene, Tegan Sant and Lexie Hagues adding one each. A satisfying performance to build on.

It was a whole new experience for the U13s – going on a team bus, singing with the U18s, playing in the cold and wet conditions and sharing players with the opposition to play against their teammates, but they coped admirably.

A squad of 13 was taken to Scarborough and to even up the sides on the day to 11 v 11, two girls from Cas played for the hosts swapping throughout the game so that every Cas girl did play at one time for Scarborough.

It was a competitive game throughout and each one of the Cas girls improved at least one aspect of their game in an exciting match. Team play and rucking is improving and defensive lines are being established but the real takeaway from this game is the team spirit, encouragement for others and their determination.

LJ Carson deserved her player of the match award for her all-round effort and scoring a try. Other try scorers were Kahmani Sene-lefao, Abi Teece, Lilly Platt, Dina (2) and Alicja Kadziak.