Landmark win for Siddal under 14s

The Halifax youngsters beat West Hull 16-4 in one of three finals on BARLA Xamax National Youth and Junior Cup Finals day at the John Charles Stadium, Hunslet, Leeds.

They were 12-0 up inside 15 minutes with tries from Aaron Metcalf, Amir Borough and Riley Dean.

Wests got an unconverted score just before half time but Tom Holroyd scored the only points of the second half for Siddal with 10 minutes to go.

It was a landmark success for Calderdale’s top amateur rugby league club. Siddal has a huge junior set-up of 11 teams and around 200 youngsters but up to yesterday only the first team had won a Grand Final or National Cup.

Martin Scrimshaw, who runs the under 14s with Anthony Waite and Matthew Smithies, said Siddal had been dominant for most of the game yesterday without being at their best.

They would have won more emphatically had the blustery conditions prevented kicker Dean from adding any conversions.

“We didn’t play to our potential. The occasion got to the players but we ground out a win,” said Scrimshaw.

Second rower Oliver Waite was man of the match while fullback Liam Whitton would have been Scrimshaw’s choice for the accolade.

The under 14s have already won the Yorkshire Youth League Cup, beating Castleford Lock Lane in the final, and they are favourites to make it a treble when they return to league action after a six-week summer break.

Scrimshaw expects 10 or 11 of the side to get scholarships with professional clubs at the end of the season.

Siddal’s open age side slipped from first to fourth in the Conference’s Premier Division when they lost 18-16 away to Wath Brow Hornets yesterday.

The Cumbrians were making it five wins in a row since losing 36-10 at Chevinedge in mid-May.

Siddal made a promising start when Gareth Blackburn cashed in on a Wath Brow error to touch down and convert.

The Halifax side lost Richard Merville to the sin-bin and Wath replied with an unconverted try in the corner.

The home side took the lead with a try to the right of the posts and conversion before adding a penalty for 12-6.

Wath stretched into an 18-6 advantage after the break with a converted try but Siddal would not lie down and forward Iain Davies touched down and the successful kick closed the gap to six points.

Freddie Walker made further inroads into Wath’s lead but the conversion was missed and Hornets held on.