Under 13 Match Reports

Playing 13 a side Sunderland needed to adjust to Scottish sides rules of play and went behind to an early try. Despite having a bare squad due to injuries, the Ashbrooke quickly adjusted to what became a hard fought game. The Scots were a young side but full of enthusiasm and strength. However, Sunderland became to dominate after some good passing play in very wet conditions. The score against them appeared to wake up Sunderland who ran in 3 tries through Sopp, Miller and Hanson. Devlin converted one of these to leave the Sunderland with a 17 — 5 victory. This was quite an achievement for a squad who had to adjust positions given the absence of some key players. Ward stepped in to fly half with some confidence and courage. His linking play with Tye at scrum half had some real quality.

A match with Berwick was 15 a side. This game produced some of the best all round play from the Sunderland squad this season. The ball was won well by an aggressive and focused pack and given out cleanly by the skill of Tye at scrum half to allow the backs to use the full width of the pitch to score some quality tries. Both backs and forwards contributed to the scoring from open play and powerful set moves. Tries came from Miller (2), Donnelly (2), Fairweather and Hanson. Two were from particularly quality moves. Devlin and Sopp converted twice to give Sunderland a convincing 34 — 0 victory against the spirited Berwick side. As pleasing as the play was, the determination of the lads to keep a clean sheet was most impressive.

Man of the match awards went to Fairweather and Gill but most pleasing was the team performance.

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