BRFC U16’s Power Into County Cup Semi Final

County Cup U16 Quarter Final – Blaydon 45-17 Sunderland

Nerves were tense from both sides prior to this cup match. Sunderland kicked off the game with the catch being cleanly caught by a Blaydon forward; the ball was quickly passed inside to Jack Harvey who powerfully ran through the Sunderland defence to score under the posts. With 2 minutes gone Blaydon RFC were 7-0. Over the next 10mins both sides looked nervous, with possession changing over through penalties or knock ins. Blaydon turned the ball over in a Sunderland line out and was passed to Jack Harvey who again ran through the Sunderland defence making it 14-0.

Sunderland started to enjoy plenty of possession in the middle of the pitch without causing Blaydon too much problems due to a strong defence. During a passage of play from Blaydon a wayward pass was intercepted by a Sunderland 2nd row who ran under the posts to make it 14-7. This gave Blaydon the focus they needed, with the forwards now dominating the breakdown and retaining possession and keeping to the structure we know. This paid dividends on the stroke of half time with after 4-5 phases and finding ourselves 5-6 yards from the Sunderland try line, the ball was passed inside to Ryan O’Neal who powered over the line. Half time BRFC 21-7 SRFC.

Half time saw Blaydon increase the intensity and with 3 minutes into the 2nd half saw Mark Kelly finding a gap and running in a try to the left making it 28-7. To give Sunderland credit, they were not done yet. 2 turnovers from a Blaydon scrum and line out saw Sunderland driving over the try line in the right corner giving the score 28-12. Again Blaydon kept up with the intensity (especially line speed in defence) and with the ball being passed out to the left after a breakdown in the middle; Will Hindle ran in a try from the opposition 22.

Blaydon now had a foothold in the game and started to relax a little, a Sunderland line out deep inside the Sunderland half saw a Sunderland player spill possession as a result from a solid tackle by Thomas Jones, Blaydon quickly capsulised on this, with the ball being quickly passed from left to right which saw Jack Barnes score right in the far corner. The score was now 40-12. This saw the intensity of the game ease off; after a Sunderland try in the right hand corner the resultant kick off from Blaydon saw a Sunderland player knock on. The scrum was taken on the Sunderland 22, after Blaydon retaining possession, a simple pass inside to Jack Harvey saw him round off a good team display and his hat trick of tries to finish off the scoring at 45-17.

The next round will be the semi final held on 12/01/20 at Blaydon RFC against the winners of the Hartlepool OB v Bishop Auckland game and it would be great to see the rest of the youth sections and the club get behind the U16’s. Well done boys/coaches.