On the back of three derby wins against local rivals Kirkby Lonsdale, Garstang and Fylde, the under 14s faced their biggest and arguably best derby opponents in Preston Grasshoppers.

Both teams were unlucky to lose their quarter final cup games and were given another route to silverware in this semi-final of the Lancashire Plate contested by the vanquished cup quarter finalists.

The early exchanges saw some uncharacteristic errors from both teams brought about by some tough defence and nervousness brought on by the sense of occasion.

Having worked their way deep into the Vale 22 it was ‘Hoppers who managed to force their way over from a 5 metre line out despite some desperate goal line defence. The try was unconverted.

Following this opening score, the Vale forwards started to exert their dominance. It was great to see the focus on scrummaging in training pay massive dividends. Each scrum was a win for the Vale on their own ball or on their opponent’s.

From a Hoppers scrum deep in their own 22, an early shove to try and retain possession resulted in a free kick for the Vale. Jack Profitt took a quick tap and although tackled just short of the line managed to reach out and place the ball over the line to equal the score.

Rather than go for touch from a penalty kick, the Hoppers kicker elected to try and put the ball into open field. The kick was gathered by Harry Thomas on the half way line and in the blink of an eye he slalomed through the defence to score a try which was a carbon copy of one scored against Garstang earlier in the month.

On the back of a dominant forward performance, Oliver Fox was able to force Hoppers backwards with a smart kicking game. Under pressure from one such kick Hoppers were forced to play the ball dead giving the dominant Vale pack a 5 metre scrum. Jack Profitt showed again how dominant he is in these situations by forcing his way over from the back of the scrum. An Oliver Fox conversion brought the half to a close at 17-5 in favour of the hosts.

A Jack Profitt penalty early in the second half extended the Vale lead to 18-5 and it looked as though the Vale may have been in control.

Anyone who represents Hoppers are always up for a fight and so it was to be on this day. In their desire to keep their goal line intact, Vale committed a number of offences which allowed Hoppers the chance to piggy back their way deep into the Vale 22 a number of times. Solid defence thwarted a number of attacks but a turned over ball was carried back in goal without being grounded and a quick thinking Hoppers player grounded the ball. A missed conversion meant that Vale still held a two score lead much to the relief of the large contingent of home supporters.

The Vale players didn’t show any sign of nerves when from another scrum, Hoppers defensive line encroached within 5 metres of the scrum giving the Vale another penalty on the Hoppers 10 metre line. Jack Profitt feigned to kick to the right hand touch line but took a quick tap and sped to the left hand corner to complete his hat-trick and another dominant performance.

That completed the scoring as Vale progressed to the final winning 25-10. Whilst others may have scored the tries, man of the match today was William Bathgate in the front row who dismantled the opponents scrum which laid the platform for the victory.

The final is on 26th April at Rochdale RUFC.