Carlisle U13’s played their first game of the season versus Upper Eden on Sunday 1st of October. The Carlisle lads were chuffed to be playing on the First team pitch and this really lifted them prior to the match with them all looking keen and ready to play.

However it was Upper Eden who started very positively with a well organised kick chase which put Carlisle on the back foot. Some good pressure from Upper Eden continued with them only knocking the ball forward 5 meters from the Carlisle line, stopping them from a certain try.
The resultant scrum really dictated the pattern of play for the rest of the first half. Carlisle scrummaged solidly, scrum half, Joel McAvoy, passed the ball cleanly into the inside centre position where Jak Quinn charged through the Upper Eden defensive line, only being stopped around half way. There then followed a series of solid tackling by Upper Eden but the Carlisle lads work around the breakdown area was far superior, presenting clean ball for the backs to make more ground until eventually in 1 continuous move prop, Bobby Irving, charged over the line. A really great team try with nearly all the team involved.

The pattern for the rest of the first half was very much the same with Upper Eden tackling bravely but Carlisle winning the breakdown and constantly moving the ball through stand-off, Charlie MacGregor and breaking the Upper Eden defensive line. Tries for Dan Gorman, Luke Dawson, Okan Akdeniz and Joe Woodruff came from this great team play, resulting in a half time score of Carlisle 30 – upper Eden 5.

The second half started with only 12 players each and then Upper Eden had another injured player and no substitute, so most of the 2nd half was played with 11 players on each team...on a very big pitch! This resulted in a bit of a scrappy 2nd half, with both teams looking very tired towards the end and gaps opening up in both defences that would not have been there if it were 13-a-side. Further scores from Dan Gorman, Will Garson and Jak Quinn came in the 2nd half.

The final score of Carlisle 45 – Upper Eden 15 didn’t really reflect the effort the Upper Eden team had put in – they never gave up and kept tackling and tackling the strong running Carlisle team.

There were some great individual efforts by the Carlisle lads, but the coaches were particularly pleased with Luke Dawson, Charlie McDill, Tom Garnett, George Barratt and Fynn Wright – all playing their first proper matches for the club.

Well done lads. Great effort.

Reporter John Hope