Sun 4 Oct 2026, 12:30
Hegians U17 Colts’ opening game of the 26/27 season at the memorial ground vs Leys (An Otley & Ilkley blended team).
Perfect conditions at the ‘Mem’ and a bustling sideline set the scene for the Colts opener in their first league fixture. A heady mix of anxiety and anticipation was felt from both players and the supporters as they warmed up to face the new ‘Leys’ merged team.
Hegians fielded an almost full-strength squad and from the start they looked dominant especially in the scrum with our front row unit of Max, Henners and Oscar causing mayhem against a rotating Leys pack. An early try out wide from James Rowell Tuffnell set the tone for the match with set piece dominance and effective simple passing. (7-0)
Leys looked shell shocked but fought back using a spell of scrappy and overly enthusiastic play from the Colts to gained territory back in our half. Our strong red zone defence countered the field position they gained but, our Colts could not maintain their discipline and Leys pulled one back with a well-deserved try. (7-5)
This was soon put right with the Hegians backs letting rip resulting in a scrum 5m out from the Leys line. Hegians pack counter drove and caused chaos at the back of the Leys scrum leading to Max breaking free from the melee and crash over under the sticks from 1 metre. (14-5) This was followed by another lighting try straight from the restart; hard running by the backs and forwards was finished off by Dan Daughela, ensuring Hegians went in at half time with a convincing lead (21-5).
The second half started as the first half ended with Hegians on the immediate attack. Constant pressure from set piece and ruck enabled a quick ball for Oscar to smash his way over the Leys line from 5m. No.10 Jack Fields handed over a flawless performance with the boot to Jake Oxley, who made his return from injury all the sweeter with a cracking kick between the sticks. (28-5)
The game then turned scrappier with Leys attacking our line from repeated penalties resulting in Max being yellowed. The team rallied and our strong defence ensured Leys were unable to turn pressure into points. From here Hegians began to link more phases together pressuring the Leys red zone. Tempers ran high with poor discipline and frustration from Leys; our 9 Noah took the brunt but the penalty allowed Hegians to work themselves down the pitch and attack the Leys line again. Continued poor discipline translated into 2 Leys players yellow carded for dangerous play following an incident of lifting and dropping Stan Sedgwick 3m off the their line and the subsequent afters, afterwards.
Hegians launched an attack with a long miracle pass landing millimetre perfect into a hard running Luke Keating to score in the corner. Andrew Fong Wah took on kicking duties and narrowly missed bouncing off the cross bar. (Full Time 33-5)
A great opening game result and a strong platform to build from for the rest of the season.
