St Helens U18s 46 Leeds Rhinos U18s 10

A disappointing afternoon at the Totally Wicked Stadium saw Leeds Rhinos Under-18s lose out to St Helens 46-10 in the Academy Championship.

Harry Taylor got the Rhinos’ sole try of the first half as Leeds stayed in the contest, but six second half tries from the Saints proved to be the undoing of the away side.

A closely contested first half saw the Rhinos start quickly as Joe Diskin’s kick-off bounced over the sideline to give the visitors first possession. 

Saints managed to survive the pressure and drew first blood after 12 minutes; Reilly Cosgrove going over in the corner after a mistake from Fergus McCormack saw the half back lose his grip on George Whitby’s fifth tackle kick.

Leeds responded positively, but struggled to find the final flourishes to get points on the board themselves. Using an offside penalty against Saints to their advantage, the young Rhinos camped on the St Helens try line but Harley Thomas couldn’t find Taylor with his pass out of the back. The chance was punished by Saints as Oliver Garmston added the home side’s second try as he reached out to score.

A stroke of luck for Leeds saw Saints’ Robertson knock on from the restart after the try and Rhinos went straight on the attack. Thomas and McCormack both thought they’d unlocked the Saints defence only to come up short, but Taylor backed himself out of dummy half and the winger got the ball over the line to get the first points of the afternoon for Tony Smith’s side. Thomas couldn’t convert the tough sideline attempt with the score at 10-4.

With half time looming, a half break from Joe Diskin almost saw the Leeds full back feed George Brown into space, but he couldn’t hold onto the pass. As Roberts reclaimed for Saints, a further break by centre Matthew Penkreth moved the home side downfield and Garmston was able to go over from short range. Whitby missed the conversion, sending the sides into the break with the score at 14-4.

Leeds made a bright start coming out the break, but Saints were able to post the early points as Alfie Tate took a flat pass through the Rhinos defence to score under the posts. Roberts was able to follow that up with a second try in quick succession as the full back beat Leeds’ slide defence to take the home side to 26 points.

Roberts came close to scoring consecutive tries, but Taylor put his body on the line to stop the Saints man getting the ball over the try line. The effort sparked Leeds into life and they got their rewards as Joe Butterfield managed to force his way over, but Saints quickly hit back through Jake Davis and Cosgrove to take the score to 36-10 with 20 minutes left.

With time against them, Hartley missed a big chance for the young Rhinos as he couldn’t hold onto the ball going through the Saints defence. The home side responded as Cole Marsh took the score to 42-10 with his try on 70 minutes.

Ellis Anderson rounded off the win for Saints as he took Kian McGann’s ball over the top to score in the corner, with Whitby adding the conversion to make the final score 46-10.

Match Facts

Saints U18s

1. Louie Roberts, 2. Reilly Cosgrove, 3. Deacon Swarbrick, 4. Matthew Penkreth, 5. Ellis Anderson, 6. Harry Robertson, 7. George Whitley, 21. Oliver Polec, 23. Thomas Humphreys, 10. Morgan Barraclough-Watson, 11. William Keeley, 12. Jake Davis, 20. Cole Marsh

Subs: 14. Kian McGann, 15. Oliver Garmston, 16. Oliver Stankevitch, 13. Alfie Tate (18^th Man – 24 Joel Kilgannon)

Tries: Cosgrove (12, 64), Garmston (23, 36), Tate (43), Roberts (46), Davis (60), Marsh (70), Anderson (75)

Goals: Whitby 5/9

Rhinos U18s

1. Joe Diskin, 2. Dax Millington, 3. Marcus Qareqare, 4. Harley Thomas, 5. Harry Taylor, 6. George Brown, 7. Fergus McCormack, 8 Jayemm Oladipupo, 9. Mason Corbett, 10. Joe Butterfield, 12. Jacob Stead, 11. Noah Whittingham, 13. Presley Cassell

Subs: 14. Harry Smith, 15. Bobby Hartley, 16. Lore Jones-Buchanan, 17. Declan White (18^th Man – Dylan Hutchinson)

Tries: Taylor (28), Butterfield (56)

Goals: Thomas 1/2