Ali Has Unfinished Business With Twickenham

There aren’t too many players in the Yorkshire squad who have had the experience of playing at Twickenham. But our skipper Ali Heard has. Ali made it to the home of rugby about nine years ago when representing Yorkshire U20s. The white rose county were on the wrong side of the scoreboard that day, and having watched his sister Tatyana rack up the wins there for England, Ali hopes tomorrow’s final of the Bill Beaumont County Championship brings him the same feelings his sister has had. Ali thought a trip to Twickenham was on the cards, but defeat to Lancashire put paid to that. The disappointment of that has spurred him and the rest of this year’s squad on to book a trip back to rugby HQ.

“I played at Twickenham once before for Yorkshire U20s around 2014 or 2015, but not for the seniors,” Ali said. 
“Once I get a bit of time to reflect on this, it’ll sink in that I’m going back.
“It was a strange experience of playing at Twickenham for the U20s really.
“There won’t be much of a crowd there compared to other games, but it’s still a very good experience.
“I don’t think there’s anyone from that Yorkshire U20s side in this squad. 
“I’m not sure there’s many in the squad who have played at Twickenham before.
“We narrowly missed out last year to Lancashire in the last game, and that defeat hurt the boys quite a lot.
“We weren’t quite at the races that day, so it was good to get the win this year.
“We left a few points out on the pitch a fortnight ago, and if we had executed a bit better, it would have been a lot more comfortable at the end. 
“Defensively we won the game at the end and it was a massive shift from everybody to defend the try line.
“I’ll most likely have a few questions for my sister ahead of the game.”