West Cumbria teams collected a hat trick of trophies between them at the North East Rugby League Youth Finals day at Kingston Park in Newcastle.
Hensingham Under-16s, Seaton Rangers Under-14s and Hensingham Under-14s all brought home silverware.
It was a busy day of rugby with four youth finals ahead of the Betfred Championship battle between Newcastle Thunder and Dewsbury Rams.
Then to finish-off there was a game Thunder’s Reserves and Warrington Wolves Reserves.
The day opened with the Under-16s Plate final which was a keenly contested affair which ended in a win for Catterick Crusaders, who defeated Cramlington Rockets 34-18. It was the only final that didn’t feature a Cumbrian side.
The Under-16s Cup final was an al-Cumbrian affair between Hensingham and Maryport.
It was Maryport, fresh from their win in the Cumberland Cup, who opened the scoring when Luke McKnight crashed over for an unconverted try after just three minutes.
The final looked like it was going to be a close affair when Ben Pearce stormed through to reply for Hensingham seven minutes later, with Pearce converting it himself.
Three quick tries for Hensingham, from Henley Donan, Bradley Keanan and Devan Sharp from an opportunistic quick try-line pounce, changed the game.
It left Hensingham in the driving seat with Maryport very much on the back foot, with a steep hill to climb. A further try from Pearce, and another of his conversions, gave Hensingham what looked like an unassailable 28-4 lead at half time.
The second half was more of the same with Maryport finding it impossible to get into the game.
Man of the Match Pearce opened the scoring from the first set, and he was quickly followed over by the free-running Nate Frankland.
Hensingham were now unstoppable, and Pearce added his fourth try, before the fleet-footed Keelan McKeown found a gap in the Maryport defence and slid in for a try.
Maryport did pick up a late consolation with McKnight going over for his second, but Hensingham had the last say when Frankland sprinted clear for his second try.
With four more Pearce second half conversions and a Luca Hiddleston goal, the final score was 58-8 to Hensingham, who retained the title and took the Cup home for the second year running.
The Under-14s Plate final saw Seaton Rangers facing Yarm Wolves, and the opening ten minutes were close, with the teams looking well matched.
Seaton opened the scoring with an unconverted try and the Wolves replied with a converted try for the lead.
Seaton then added a second unconverted try to give them an 8-6 lead before they moved up a gear, and began to dominate.
They proceeded to score forty unanswered points and finished well clear at 44-6.
Callum Irving was outstanding for Rangers and scored a hat-trick of tries, Alfie Semple grabbed a brace, and there were tries for Jaiden Tallantire and Jacob Walker, while fittingly Man of the Match Zinny Hodgson went over for the final try.
Kiaran Robinson kicked one goal and the excellent Coby Walker added five conversions. Overall it was a great team effort from a squad who played for each other and reaped the rewards by winning the trophy.
The last youth match of the day, the Under-14s Cup final, saw Hensingham up against a big, physical Gateshead Storm who had plenty of talent on show.
For the first 10 minutes Hensingham struggled to contain Gateshead who opened the scoring from a charge up the left wing.
Parity was restored when a quick thinking Lincoln Sice took advantage of try-line pressure to wriggle through a gap and touch down, with Jackson Smith converting.
Firm Hensingham defending held off the Storm, but two more charges, both up the right wing, gave Gateshead a 16-6 advantage at half time.
Hensingham came out after the break a different side, and immediately began to dominate, with Rylan Templeton and Smith powerhouses that Gateshead simply couldn’t deal with.
Smith dived in for a try after just five minutes and then Templeton scored on the left wing minutes later with another Smith conversion leaving the score level. Smith then battered his way through for his second try which he converted for a 22-16 lead.
Crucial try-line defence by Tyce Walmsley, which saw the Gateshead winger forced into touch just as he went to touch down at the corner flag, preserved the narrow lead.
Then Walmsley was in action at the other end to score his own try which Smith converted for a two-score lead.
In the final minutes Man of the Match Smith added another try for his hat trick, and it clinched a 32-16 win for Hensingham and round off a good day for Cumbria.
