Yattwell under-14s put in a fantastic account of themselves to play out an entertaining 25-25 draw at North Bristol on Sunday.

On a dank and murky morning, Yattwell travelled to Bristol with limited numbers against a very large squad.

It was the hosts who scored first with an early try off some good handling and speed out wide and that could have easily set the tone for the day, but Yattwell were having none of it.

Some great attacking rugby took them back up the pitch and when the forwards were stopped just short, a quickly recycled ball and low body positions saw Tom Stafford driven over the line to level the scores.

With their heads now firmly focused on the game, Yattwell then had the best of the rest of the first half.

The work at the breakdown was effective as they not only secured their own ball but turned over a few as well. The handling was good, with great passing out of the contact to players moving on to the ball and some of the tackling was immense, especially given the size of some of the North Bristol ball carriers.

Yattwell’s next score was through a combination of all of their good work.

From within their own half some lovely passing moved the ball wide, a quick pick and go from the tackle drove it forwards, a pop out of the contact kept it all moving and then some great footwork by Ned Hill saw him storm through to score.

Not long after, and following turnover possession, Yattwell moved it wide from a scrum and a terrific catch and pop off the floor from Tyler King ended with Charlie Hayet bursting through to score.

They scored their final try of the half when North Bristol kicked long but Jimmy Jackson-Patel tore back up the pitch to return it with interest.

North Bristol then made a great steal at the breakdown before a couple of phases later when Jackson-Patels’ tackle forced the ball loose and Phil Clarke gathered it up and made the most of the space in front of him with a terrific break from inside his own half to score.

North Bristol finished the half with a lovely run down the blindside off the back of a scrum that clawed one score back but at the break it was very deservedly Yattwell 20 North Bristol 10.

Into the third quarter and it was clear that North Bristol’s strength in depth was starting to take its toll as Yattwell’s legs started to tire.

A couple of injuries also added to the strain as the speed to the breakdown and control of the ball started to swing in North Bristol’s favour and they scored a couple of tries to make it all square.

That said Yattwell never stopped trying and were well rewarded for their efforts with a penalty for North Bristol diving in off their feet at the breakdown

This was quickly taken by Clarke who was held just short of the line but the ball was well recycled and Stafford added his second by diving low and hard to score.

Into the last few minutes of the quarter and this time it was Yattwell who were penalised a couple of times in quick succession for offside and North Bristol were able to capitalise and draw the scoreline level once more.

With the final play of the period Yattwell suffered a couple more injuries and with their numbers dwindling it was agreed by both sides to call it honours even.