Thornhill Trojans' young side in valuable run out ahead of new Impact National Conference League season

Although they lost 44-14 it was a useful run out ahead of a campaign that starts this Saturday against Clock Face Miners.

It was an encouraging performance for this a young team, but it is clear that for many players the coming season will be a massive learning curve as they cut their teeth at Conference League level.

Star of the show for Thornhill was team leader Jake Wilson and he was rightly named as man of the match. However, 16-year-old hooker Oliver Boocock also caught the eye and scored a glorious solo try in the closing stages.

Thornhill started the game in fine style by scoring a try in the opening minute. Nathan Lowther made a break and sent out a pass which put Joss Ratcliffe away to race down the wing. Ryan Mitchell converted.

But East Leeds quickly recovered and Adam Keedy darted over for an unconverted try after a quick tap caught the Trojans out.

Sloppy Thornhill defending then presented the visitors with another chance they took after missed tackles allowed an overlap to be created for Nemmiam Mansam to go over in the corner. Aiden Robinson converted.

Thornhill then came close to scoring when Nathan Lowther made a raid for the try line, but he was bundled into touch by a last ditch tackle.

Good defending managed to prevent a East Leeds score when an attacker was held up over the try line, but the pressure continued and Miles Darwin barged over for a try converted by Robinson.

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In the run up to half time Thornhill scored an excellent long range try to give their supporters something to cheer about. Jordan Lowther made the initial break, the move was continued by Oliver Boocock who then sent out a pass that Joss Ratcliffe over to make it 16-10 at the interval.

But the longer the second half wore on the more East Leeds began to dominate as Thornhill's youngsters looked a bit lightweight at times.

A long range effort looked to have been thwarted by a brave last ditch tackle from full-back Tom Culling. However, the attack was well supported and Josh Wood went over for an unconverted try.

Another strong attack exposed some defensive shortcomings by Thornhill as they failed to offer any resistance and AJ Wilson went over for a try which Robinson converted.

A kick and chase forward then resulted in the next East Leeds try, Miles Darwin scoring his second, with Robinson goaling.

It was a brilliant solo effort from Thornhill's Boocock which interrupted the East Leeds scoring procession. From 20 metres out Boocock sold a wonderful dummy to create an opening and sprint away to score an unconverted try.

​But this was merely a consolation as East Leeds wrapped up the game when Wood completed a runaround for another try. The final score came from Roy Raltton with both efforts converted by Robinson.