YOUTH REPRESENTATIVE MATCH

The second, and last match, between the SARL Youth Team and the RFL Lions Youth delivered on its promise to be a hard, tough match. Both teams were keen to get into it as they both had something to prove.

The South African squad had to make amends for the one sided score line from the first match, and they came out guns blazing. The team had a few more experienced players that could not make the midweek match, and this showed immediately as they collected the ball and immediately went on the attack.

The first quarter of an hour it was any man’s game and after a brilliant break down the middle, Joey Brady went over for the first England try. Dom Wear converted and the Lions were up 6 points on the Baby Rhino’s. South Africa answered almost immediately and Esje Estehuize went over in the corner for an unconverted try. This was followed a few minutes later by a second try by Tommy Joubert and South Africa was in the lead 10 points to 6 as the conversion from Johan Joubert was good.

This proved to be a wakeup call for the Lions and Callum King went over the line five minutes later, but the missed conversion meant scores were tied at 10 each. The Lions applied pressure non-stop and finally Matty Henson went over the whitewash after a strong move up the middle. The conversion by Dom Wear was good and the Lions were up by six points. A final try by Niall Allen and the Lions went into the break leading by 10 points.

The second half kicked off even faster than the first, and South Africa quickly got back on the scoreboard with two tries within 15 minutes. The tries were scored by Marius Herbst and Esje Estehuize but the conversions went wide and South Africa was within 2 points of the Lions. South Africa got a penalty shortly afterwards and decided to go for the posts.

Unfortunately, the kicking for South Africa let them down again and the attempt was unsuccessful. The game at this stage was a hard, uncompromising battle and a few times the match official had to call time out for a blood bin as the players threw everything at each other. South Africa lost a man to a yellow card and immediately the Rhinos were under pressure.

They managed to keep the Lions at bay for 9 minutes but in the end the extra man counted and Mark Nicholson went over for a try converted by Dom Wear.

This was to be the last scoring opportunity of the day and for the remainder of the match it was a battle of attrition as the South African team played their hearts out.

The game ended with the Lions winning 26 points to 18

SOUTH AFRICA YOUTH
Marius Heebot, Ben van der Meewe, Johan Joubert, Esje Esteehuise, Alrich Swanepoel, Jason Mathaei, Tommie Joubert, Anrich du Plessis, Nathan Nel, Craig Vermaak, Geehard Henning, Heney Badenhorst, Dwayne Botma, JP Steyn, Simon Peinsloo, Christian Ambadiang, Cody Meyees

ENGLISH LIONS YOUTH
Tyler Spence, Niall Allen, Joey Brady, Lewis Price, Callum King, Harvey Gotts, Dom Wear, Jack Hazlewood, Matty Henson, Dan Fryer, Adam Lavin, Ben Tootill, Charlie Tomlinson, Greg Howland, Mark Nicholson, Connor Ratcliffe, Jed Carter