Stanningley U18’s celebrated winning the Bartlett’s BARLA Yorkshire Cup and avenged last year’s final loss by defeating a tough Oulton Raiders outfit at Post Office Road, Featherstone.

Stanningley started the game brightly playing down the sloping pitch, aided by some early penalties, but they failed to capitalise on the possession and territory as handling errors gave Oulton hope. In response, it was Oulton that opened the scoring on their first foray into the Stanningley half. A shift wide saw the Oulton centre evade a tackle and crash over for the first point of the game.
Stanningley’s response was encouraging and Charlie Leather was unfortunate to spill a bouncing ball from a clever cross field kick before also having a try disallowed for a foot in touch. Oulton’s indiscipline saw Stanningley finally break through and reply through Brodie Pitts. Alex Best, playing in the second row, squeezed out an offload close to the line after a strong run which was collected by Pitts who crashed over. Tom Forrest converted to level the scores 6-6 after 20 minutes.
Oulton regained the lead through a try to their no.8 after barging his way over from close range. Stanningley responded swiftly through fullback Luke Smithson who was assisted by an Alex Best offload near the line after another powerful run. Both tries went unconverted to leave the scores locked at 10 apiece. Oulton nearly took the lead again but a try from another flowing cross field play was ruled out after a forward pass. An often scrappy first half littered with penalties finished with Oulton reduced to 12 men after a sin bin for foul play.
The second half saw Oulton with a full complement of players again take the lead. The try went unconverted to put them ahead 14-10. Stanningley saw further opportunities go amiss, one Jake Lightowler offload in midfield after a break just evaded Tom Forrest’s supporting run. However, they did level the scores for a third time when Brodie Pitts barged his way over from dummy half when close to the line to score his second try of the afternoon. The conversion was pushed wide to keep the game locked at 14 all.
The final quarter of the match saw Stanningley in the ascendency and take the lead for the first time through loose forward Will Hickson. A spread play saw Hickson dummy his way over the line from close range against a stretched Oulton line. Forrest this time made no mistake and gave Stanningley a 20-14 lead heading into the final stages. Oulton’s task was made harder when a player was dismissed and sent from the field after a dangerous tackle.
Stanningley took advantage of the extra man when Captain Tom Forrest extended the lead with a long range drop goal before another late penalty was added from nearly 40m to see the game out and take the final score to 23-14.
Stanningley’s Tom Forrest was awarded Man of the Match in what was a tough physical encounter between two good teams.
Final Score: Stanningley 23 Oulton 14

The team and staff would like to thank all the supporters that came over to support the team throughout the competition. The U18’s will now switch focus to the National Cup which begins in January before the league season returns in March. The team are currently on the lookout for sponsors who would be interested in supporting the team with a new playing kit for 2017. Anyone interested please contact Stanningley rugby club or any of the coaching staff. Many thanks!

(Photos courtesy of Terry Hopkins and Dennis Rugby League Photos)