Birkenshaw Bluedogs Academy 18 – 26 New Earswick All Blacks: Saturday 3rd June -

New Earswick All Blacks beat a youthful Birkenshaw Bluedogs Academy 26-18 on a hot day in a competitive game this weekend. In the first half poor attacking structure was the theme for the All Blacks but they were able to keep competing with the Bluedogs side with strong defence, a feature of the New Earswick side this season.  

A well controlled kicking game in combination with some errors by the All Blacks left the side under pressure across the first half and Birkenshaw moved the ball well scoring two tries out wide, but two tries from Will Holmes kept All Blacks in the game at half time.

Despite being down to 12 men for the majority of the second half strong running from the All Blacks big men led by Leo Hutchinson and Joel Shaw allowed them to become dominant and make plenty of metres coming away from their own line. Tries in the second half came from Hutchinson which was much deserved, whilst Lewis Carter scored in the corner after some quick handling and Sean Malarkey went over for a short range try. Will Holmes completed his hat-trick after a well timed inside ball from Stephen Clarke which got New Earswick their fourth win of the season. A great win for the team who dug deep throughout the game despite players playing out of position across the pitch due to injuries.