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Please now send all match reports, team sheets, and other malton rugby club communications for the website to either of these email addresses:

Carla Mitchell: malton@andycarla.wanadoo.co.uk


 
Malton U9s played like a different squad...
U9 | Malton 6 v 2  West Park Leeds
All memory of last weeks defeat forgotton, Malton U9s played like a different squad - visitors West Park, Leeds met formidable opposition.  This was a superb team effort and all who played are worthy of mention - a quick and accurate pass from Richard Hicks gave winger Archie Peckitt a pitch long run to score early for Malton.  Ted Wainwright capitalised on a lovely ball from Francis Rowe to put Malton two ahead. 

Ronan Fenwick was superb pushing the ball forward with Robert Firby on his shoulder every step. Peckitt went over again through the efforts of Archie Johnson, Wainwright and Rowe.  Finn Hockenhull's excellent run and Johnsons and Matthew Jeffersons tackling then led to Hicks scoring the fourth try. Tremendously strong play from the forwards allowed Peckitt through for his hat-trick and a truly deserving Jefferson left the Leeds defence standing to score the sixth and final try.
 
Malton welcomed a depleted West Park to a windy Gannock...
U11 | Malton v West Park



Malton welcomed a depleted West Park to a windy Gannock. West Park arrived with only 8 players, so Malton helped make up their numbers. The first game started at a frantic pace with excellent running, tackling and recycling from both teams. Gradually Malton built up the pressure and a break from the back of a maul, saw Jacob Stephenson open the scoring. Malton kept up the barrage and Charlie Corner, Owen Hayhurst and Will Fordy all crossed the line. Benedict Fawcett converted twice to make the half time score 24-0. The second half was a much closer affair with Henry Hudson making a try-saving tackle close to the corner.The only try came after Charlie Corner drove close to the line and gave the scoring pass to Will Fordy. Another Fawcett conversion made the final score 31-0.

Malton then loaned West Park some fresh players and the balance of the second game was much more even. West Park lead 7-0 at half time and Malton had to up their game. Harry Butler levelled the scores from close range and the match was there to be won by either team. Malton were on the defensive and only brilliant tackling by the fearless Hayhurst and Fawcett kept things level. The final move of the game saw Malton pressing and Henry Browne broke from the back of the maul, held off two would-be tacklers and stretched to score the try. Final score 12-7 to Malton, both teams contributing to an excellent morning's rugby.

Match Reporter Andrew Fordy
With less than a month to go before the East Yorkshire Championship...
U11 | Malton v Pockilington



Pocklington 0 - Malton 19
Malton 7 - Hull 14
Pocklington 14 - Malton 14

With less than a month to go before the East Yorkshire Championships, Malton
travelled to perennial rivals Pocklington who also hosted Hull RUFC in a
series of 15- and then 7-minute matches designed to give all the Malton
players as much playing time as possible.

The first game was simply outstanding with Malton out of the blocks before
Pock knew what hit them: wave after wave of forward possession, quick ball
to the backs and then excellent recycling at the breakdown. The simple stuff
done extremely well with Toby Wrightson, Charlie Corner and Owen Hayhurst
really thirsting for the ball. Will Fordy scored the opening two tries of
the match, the first made with a typical barging run towards the line from
ten metres out and the second after Jack Charters passed out of the tackle
and Fordy was on his shoulder to dot down the ball in the corner. Except for
the restarts Pocklington didn't spend any time in the Malton half and
certainly never looked like scoring. Corner's hard work was rewarded when he
scored, driven over the try line in a maul that Pocklington found impossible
to defend. Wrightson kicked two of three conversions.

Despite Malton's handy result, Pocklington coaches and parents alike were at
pains to point out that, due to a local school trip, their side was weaker
than the one likely to take the field for the EYC. Indeed, a fortnight
earlier a full-strength Pocklington had scored 75 unanswered points over two
match against the same Hull side that would edge Malton 14-7 in the second
game.

Hull's win was built on having two fast, rangy runners and some good
counterattacking opportunities that caught Malton on the hop. Despite some
excellent individual contributions, notably Tom Pycock's lion-hearted
tackles, Harry Butler's sheer determination in the rucks and mauls and Jacob
Stephenson's explosive running, Malton were down by two converted tries,
before Stephenson scored after Butler and the rest of the pack had mauled
for half the length of the pitch. Jake Newsome converted.

The final game saw a rematch with Pocklington with Malton switching almost
all of their players at halftime. As with the first game, Malton's forwards
had the game in an iron grip, better organised at the breakdown and line out,
and even stealing scrum ball. Off this platform, Malton scored through
Pycock, after Fordy had taken the ball into a maul and sucked in most of the
Pocklington defence. In the second half, the hosts struck back with
converted two tries but Malton never made it easy for them, with Hayhurst,
in the in-goal area, even stealing the ball as the Pocklington player went
to touch down. So it was more than appropriate that the match finished level
- 14-14 - after Butler peeled out of a maul and ran up the blindside to
cross for Malton's final try. Wrightson and Newsome shared the kicking, with
both getting one conversion each.

Match Reporter Charlie Charters
 
This was a fast-paced game and three minutes in the Tigers went ahead...

U11 | Malton v Driffield v Beverley
Malton Lions 10 Driffield 30
Malton Lions 2 Beverley 2

Malton Tigers 41 Beverley 0
Malton Tigers 19 Driffield 7

Although Malton U11s has the largest contingent of mini ruggers, the side didn't appear to do themselves any favours by hosting teams from Wolds neighbours Driffield and Beverley. Splitting the Malton squad into two enabled both visiting teams to play continuously but stretched the hosts - and the day finished with the home side recording two good wins, a battling draw and a substantial loss.

Malton Lions 10 Driffield 30

Malton's instinct for hospitality got the better of them in the first half and, despite achieving parity in the scrums and rucks, in the backline the side generously set up a tackle-free zone. Driff scored four unanswered tries as their backs ran free so at halftime the coaches rejigged the two Malton sides stiffening the Lions' defensive spine. Although Driff scored their fifth try early on in the second half, this followed a long run of Malton possession showing the home side was finally finding its footing. The team's first try was scored by Jack Charters, working well with scrumhalf Jo Nordli who'd darted blindside from a scrum near the Driffield line. Charters again looked close to scoring minutes later only to be held up on the line, and from the ensuing maul Driffield got excellent counter-attacking ball and ran the length of the pitch for their 6th. The Lions sneaked a late try through winger Joe Fitzgerald who seized on a loose ball from a strong Malton scrum and darted over. Neither side elected to take conversions in this match.

Malton Lions 14 Beverley 14

Beverley were studded with 12-year-olds and for most of the match fielded 12 players against Malton's 11. Despite this, the Lions battled gamely and only conceded just before half time from a short-range penalty charge. The visitors went up by two tries from the second-half kick off but this was when the home side showed their character: Jamie Knaggs bullocked his way to the tryline from a 5m lineout and just before the final whistle Nordli was rewarded for his hardwork at the base of the scrum with a try on the nearside. Both Malton scores were converted by Toby Wrightson

Malton Tigers 41 Beverley 0

This was a fast-paced game and three minutes in the Tigers went ahead through Benedict Fawcett after he was set up by a typically determined run from William Fordy. The team's second try was scored by Owen Hayhurst but was created by a long run and excellent drive by the Malton forwards. The third try was scored by Henry Hudson, who might sing like an angel but he plays like a demon with the ball in hand. Next to score was hard-working Henry Browne who peeled off a long rolling maul to score his first of the season. Again, great team work was at the heart of the next try when prop Harry Butler was driven over the line for the 5th try and scrum half Jake Newsome engineered a weaving run that split the defence before offloading to Fawcett who scored the team's sixth. And Hayhurst was able to score his second of the morning just before full time to wrap up a very satisfactory performance. In total Fawcett converted three of the seven tries.

Malton Tigers 19 Driffield 7

In what was the best of the four matches, it was arch-rivals Driffield, with a suffocating defense that the Tigers couldn't quite penetrate, who were able to score first and head to half time 7 points ahead. But after the restart scrumhalf Newsome scored and his try was followed up by another to Fordy who crunched his way over despite the best efforts of the visitors. And Hudson was able to score his second of the day, the team's third and final of this match, after scooping up loose ball from  a ruck and dotting it over the line. Fawcett slotted two out of the three two-pointers.
 

Reports: Tarnia Hudson and Charlie Charters
 
U11 | Malton & Norton v Darlington


The Gannock ground was hard and the rugby even harder as Malton U11's opened their season against Durham Cup champions Darlington with a hard-fought 7-5 win in the first fixture, and a narrow 5-12 loss in the second.

After three weeks of intensive training, Malton played with great physicality and thou-shalt-not-cross-this-line attitude. Darlington had some whippety swivel-hipped runners and it was only thanks to the immense tackling from in particular, Joe Nordli, Benedict Fawcett, Tom Pycock and Owen Hayhurst that after the first 15 minutes the game was still scoreless.

Darlington - who were also joint winners of the York Festival scored first but were unable to convert, giving renewed hope to Malton. The match ebbed and flowed and both sides showed extraordinary sustained defence but it was Will Fordy's gutsy scrounging of loose ball from the feet of Darlington that set up prop Harry Butler for a lunging try. Toby Wrightson was the first ever from this group of players to score points from a conversion, giving the hosts a hard-fought but deserved opening win of the season.

Game two was also tight but Darlington's fast runners and bulldozing scrum meant they were able to score either side of half time and they were soon up 12-0 but Malton never conceded. In an extraordinary passage of play, nine phases of close support and quick ruck ball, a jinking run from Elliot Hockenhull ended with Darlington stretched right across the field and Charlie Corner dipping in for a try. 5-12 was the final score.

With players getting used to a step-change in rules and tactics, particularly the introduction of kicking, there were moments with Malton, in the shape of Jake Newsome and Hockenhull, showed how a well-timed, deep kick can turn defence into attack and put fear of God into their opponents.

Match Reporter Charlie Charters.