Blaydon 40 Rosslyn Park 24

 

Needing maximum points to maintain their push from out of the relegation zone Blaydon responded with a rattling good performance that had 4 tries in the bag by the 41st minute and 6 in all before taking their foot off the throttle in the final quarter.
Director of rugby Micky Ward declared himself well satisfied, saying “The lads performed well, it was a tough build-up and they were nervous with so much at stake. I thought their defence was outstanding in the first half and they attacked the way they have all season. We made a couple of mistakes late on but with one eye on next weeks game we made a couple of substitutions and made the scoreboard a little bit different from what it should have been”.
They knocked on from the kick-off and made life a little difficult for 5 minutes but once the first score went in it became plain sailing. Tom Bramwell and Frazer Wilson combined in a break from defence to put flanker Jack Davidson through a convenient gap for the opener, and hooker Matt Thompson touched down from close range following a line-out drive.
Try No3 looked certain when they swarmed into the visitors 22 on 35 minutes only to be robbed on the line. Possession was soon regained however, Davidson grabbing his second and with Brett Connon having landed the 3 conversions it was 21-0 at the interval.
Within 60 seconds of the restart they secured the vital bonus point try when Connon charged down a clearance and Wilson set off at speed down the left to outstrip the Park defence, and it was one-way traffic. Another penalty to the corner saw Thompson in again and Andrew Archibald finished off the Blaydon scoring when he secured the touch after the pack had driven over the line.
Forty points to the good without reply and with 20 minutes remaining the handbrake was applied and a Park side that thus far had shown no sign of penetrating a solid Blaydon defence were able to run in 4 tries of their own. Lively winger David Vincent twice was allowed to wriggle out of the tackle to score in the corner, and when Blaydon consistently infringed at a short scrum a yellow card resulted and the visitors took full advantage through full-back Henry Robinson. Fly-half Harry Leonard added 2 conversions and in the final minute Josh Ovens went over after good work by Ed Milne.
Only one game to go, and now everything to play for with their future in National League One still in doubt.
John Brennan