Archie Harding passed his first senior test as a referee with flying colours, earning praise from both sides.
The 17-year-old took charge of the Counties 1 Cumbria game between Aspatria 2nds and Egremont at Bower Park which the visitors won 55-8.
An Aspatria spokesman said: “The consensus in the club was that the young lad did well. He had a few ‘old heads’ to deal with who were testing his patience but remained calm and got the big decisions right.”
The Egremont view was: “We thought he did well. He was clearly nervous at the start but his confidence grew throughout the game and by the end just looked like a veteran. It’s excellent to see young referees coming through to keep things fresh and also allow games to be played. Well done.”
The trained eye of Alasdair Boyle, the junior match officials’ development officer, followed his progress and afterwards he had this to say: “Archie was not overawed by his first open age game.
“He communicated well with the two captains and the rest of the players and on a heavy pitch his fitness allowed him to quickly get to every breakdown.
“Archie gave a confident performance that confirmed both his ability to referee at this level and his undoubted potential.”
Egremont won the game comfortably, scoring nine tries in the process with Jamie Wilson (3), Ian Crichton (2), Jimmy Temple, Jordan Moyes, Liam Kirkbride and Nathan Preston all touching down. Chris Critchley landed five conversions.
The Aspatria try was scored by Ewan Nicholson with Mark Irwin landing a penalty and Luke Baker earning their man of the match award.
