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Blaydon 27 – Old Albanians 34

Having been out of contention for much of the game and still trailing 27-17 by the 75th minute Old Albanians pulled off a remarkable victory by doubling their score with 2 converted tries and a penalty in the time remaining.

Full-back Oliver Marchon had kicked off the recovery with his second try of the game on 64 minutes but with Blaydon in control of the mid-field there was still no hint of the turn-around to come. Replacement prop Sam Staff however made an instant impact when he appeared on the scene and from his burst the ball was whipped out to George Saunders who crossed in the corner.

Lawrence Raynor added an excellent conversion and then a penalty almost from the restart, and in the 80th minute was on target again to add the extras when Camilo Parilli-Ocampo stormed over for the winner.

Blaydon it has to be said had looked nailed on for victory after flanker Harrry Bate had touched down the opener and then Sean Brown capitalising on a sensational break from his own 22 by scrum-half Andy Davies.

Early in the second period Tom Banks cruised in after good work by Brown for a 3rd Blaydon try to take the home advantage to 27-10, but against all odds it was the visitors who had the last word.

Star man: Lawrence Raynor (Old Albanians)

Referee: Matthew O’Grady
Attendance: 122
HT: 17-10 FT: 27-34

Scorers

Blaydon
Tries: Bate 15, Brown 33, Banks 50
Conversions: Baggett 30,33,50
Penalties: Baggett 15,44

Old Albanians
Tries: Marchon 39,64, Saunders 75, Parrilli-Ocampo 80
Conversions: Raynor 38,64,76,80
Penalty: Raynor 1,77

Reporter: John Brennan

So close, but one that got away from the Bricks

Saturday 8th March, WB Rockcliffe IIs 19, Bricks 15

Scorers; Rob Pyle 2, Finnas

With the cancellation of the Border Park game we picked up a fixture against WB Rockcliff IIs who are in a league above us after being promoted last year. It was a close encounter and the difference on the day was WBR kicked two conversions and all 3 of ours hit the same post….

WBR never really looked to threaten us that much and strangely all 3 of their trys were long ranged efforts which came of our good breaks, but all 3 occasions instead of keeping calm and holding onto the ball waiting for a clear pass or support to arrive we threw silly passes, which were picked off and WBR ran away to score, 3 times, will we ever learn.

Highs & Lows

· Keith Winters knock on in plain sight of the ground
· Forward rolling mauls
· Matty Bell lifting in the line out
· Paul Winter and Finnas passes after good breaks, to the opposition
· Thacks accuracy hitting the post 3 times, one from well out wide
· Ian Bennie’s face when he was selected as hooker J
· Rob Pyle tackle on the #8, dead legged him out of the game

Next week sees us in a re-arrange league encounter with West End while the 2s & 3s are both away to Hordon in the Cup, good luck lads.

1. Paul Winter

2. Ian Bennie (Grumpy)

3. Finnas

4. Keith Winter

5. Ryan Convery

6. Matty Bell (Charlie)

7. Divers

8. Windy

9. Liam

10. Savs

11. Rob Pyle

12. Thacks

13. Chester

14. Damien

15. Craig Barlow (Joe)

From the Touchline – Sat 8th March

Today we entertain Old Albanian who are currently 8th in the league with 59 points – two places below ourselves.

Earlier in the season we met in a close encounter eventually finishing at 27 all although we scored four tries to their three and picked up the extra bonus point.

Old Albanian come into this game having last week defeated relegation condenders Henley 19 – 10 whilst we lost 24 – 19 to a Doncaster side who included our former centre Matt Clark. This was an absorbing match with the home side leading 24 – 7 just after the break only for ourselves to eventually take advantage of abundant possession and gradually close the gap to only five points playing the last 18 minutes with 14 men having used all our subsistutes. Indeed, one unbiased pundit on Rolling Maul, said it was difficult to tell which side was the full-time professionals! Nevertheless, it was a great game between two equally matched sides.

Last week’s other results saw second placed Rosslyn Park scrape a one point win at Loughborough Students and victories for Blackheath, Richmond, Tynedale and Coventry. The former three thus improving their survival hopes and looking at the fixtures over the next few weeks, all the bottom four sides meet each other and it could be by the end of March that the situation is a little clearer. At present, Cinderford, with games in hand on everyone else, still appear to have a good chance of staying up.

Recent club Cup results have seen all our Junior sides advance to the semi-final stages of their respective competitions with the Bricks actually in their final. Maybe once again, we will retain all cups! It must be noted that currently we are the only club in the North East running four sides.

The referee today is Matthew O’Grady, making his first ever visit to Crow Trees. Matthew is new to the panel this season and such has been his progress, that he has already done a couple of British and Irish Cup games but most importantly, he is a barrister so no doubt there will be no arguing today!!

Next week we take the long trip to Henley for the re-arranged game with the bus leaving at 4.00.p.m. on Friday.

Finally, a note to members reminding them that the car boot sale re-started last week and for a change we had fine weather and with this week also looking good, we seemingly are getting off to a good start. Bob Bartle is again in charge and is always on the look-out for a couple more volunteers! Our mid-week car boot sale will commence in mid-May for 20 weeks until mid-September and details will shortly be released but again, we are looking for any available mid-week volunteers for a Wednesday morning.

Jim Huxley

Referee : Matthew O’Grady
Assistant Referees : Dean Lithgoe/Alan Hughes

Bricks get much needed win in league, in a close encounter.

Saturday 1st March – Blaydon Bricks 32, Gosforth Falcons 21.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313%40N08/collections/

Scorers:
Trys Windy, Horse, Finnas, Ryan , Divers
Conv Thacks, Divers 2

A game of two styles, raw forward power from Bricks and Gas to burn from the Gosforth Falcons backs and it was Gosforth who started the best and were soon 14 nil up with too long range trys. Once we stopped spilling the ball and the lose kicks that missed touch, that was the last their backs saw of the ball, thank god and when they got it, the Bricks tackling was ferocious.

At 14-12 down just before half time Craig did not get up from a ruck and looked to have sustained a serious ankle injury judging by the whimpers (sorry Craig, Keith told me to put that in) coming from him. Rumour started by Mr Snowdon and Thompson was it was Keith stamping on his ankle to ensure his cup final place.

This injury resulted in a move to the much bigger 1st team pitch, which, against a bunch of whippets was not in the plan.

Great respect to Gosforth who turned up with an inexperienced player at prop and stayed contested for around 60 minutes. Many teams would have tactically with drawn from scrums well before. With the Bricks running out of steam in the last 5 minutes Falcons came back into it as Bricks forgot the game play and kicked long into the hands of a good back 3.

Highs and Lows

– Up goes a shout, a horse dashes out, but which way did it go, instead of capturing GB dropping the kick off, it was Horse, see photos…..
– Great driving play, rolling mauls and scrums from the pack, they were totally dominant
– Rolling mauls from the half way and a push over try from the 22, great performance.
– Some good breaks by Savs, Chester and Divers
– Ryan got his a*se off the couch and had a great game, scoring from a number 8 pick up after the scrums went uncontested
– Stu played well at scrumhalf but being a back row was always in the thick of it and we were left with a scrumhalf. Which was alright in my game plan cos driving mauls 60 yards was unashamedly the game plan
– Thanks to Thacks for stepping into play flyhalf, its not as easy as it looks, as some will find out next week…..
– At the start of the game our development only had 14 players so Joe was promoted, so it was good to see him slot back into fullback with 10 mins of the second half gone on the big pitch. He made some good breaks, but then limped off after 15 mins.
– Jason Leng made a come back from ankle surgery
– I don’t think Keith dropped the ball, nah i must have just missed it.

Best wishes to Craig who looked to have badly damaged his ankle but after a few hours at the Blaydon walk in centre is recovering well with nothing broken,

Next week we are off on a bus to Border park, play (watch out for some very unusual selections at flyhalf) the game, watch the Scotland France game at 5 and back by around 9ish. Chester is going up by car if anyone needs to be back quickly.

Finally Winlaton beat Sunderland in the other semi yesterday 38-27 and will be our opponents in the Fourth team Shield final on the 5th April at a neutral venue tba.

1. Paul Winter
2. Craig McBurnie (Grumpy)
3. Ryan Denham (Scott Findlay)
4. Keith Winter
5. Horse
6. Harry 7. Stracs
8. Windy
9. Stu Bailey
10. Thacks (Savs)
11. Liam (Jason Leng)
12. Divers
13. Chester
14. Damien (Ian Bennie)
15. Savs (Joe)

Doncaster 24 – Blaydon 19

Blaydon were seeking a double over runaway league leaders Doncaster and for much of yesterdays clash at Castle Park could easily have achieved that goal. They had all the early pressure and possession and spent 75% of the second period in their opponents 22 only to be denied a try on 4 occasions they were over the try line.

The home side however had the happy knack of soaking up the pressure and then capitalising on an error to break up-field and score

They did exactly that on 16 minutes when former Blaydon centre Matt Clark produced a perfect side-step to beat his man and touch down and then flanker Mike Hills finished off a move after the visitors had contrived to lose possession on half-way.

Doug Flockhart converted both scores and Chris Walker took their advantage to 19 points with a 3rd try before Blaydon finally got some reward for their efforts when No8 Jason Smithson went over from close range right on the interval and Andrew Baggett added the extras.

Flockhart completed the Doncaster scoring soon after the restart from an excellent three-quarters move to make it 24-7 and from then on it was all Blaydon.

Somehow the home line remained intact, the referee consistently failing to confirm a touchdown, until neat work by Andrew Davies led to a Zach Kibirige try, the winger having to twist out of the tackle to force his way over.

The Blaydon pressure continued but with all the replacements having been used they were reduced to 14 men for the final quarter when Kibirige went off injured. Still the pressure on the home line continued with the Blaydon forwards encamped in the 22 until finally Smithson crossed for his second, Baggett again converting.

A bonus point was ensured but the final whistle put paid to what could have been a notable victory.

John Brennan

Cinderford 32 – Blaydon 13

[match id=107]

A Blaydon side devastated by the absence though injury of 4 key players plus another 3 on England Counties duty the previous night were predictably put to the sword by lowly Cinderford.

They more than held their own in the opening quarter and were 8-7 up at the break but a disastrous spell early in the second period when their skipper was in the sin-bin saw them concede 15 points unanswered and the game was gone.

The forwards were well on top in the early stages and flanker Harry Bate grabbed the opening try from a well organised catch and drive. Cinderford winger Neville Codlin responded immediately with the first of his hat-trick, converted by fly-half Mike Davies, but a handling in the ruck offence allowed Andrew Baggett the chance to put Blaydon back in front.

A deliberate knock-on by Keith Laughlin resulted in a yellow card and the home side for the first time were able to grab the initiative. With full-back Mike Wilcox involved in everything they poured forward and after Davies had landed a penalty another fine effort by Codlin made it 15-8.

Winger Sam Barker ran in try number 3 for them after Wilcox had made the extra man in a line break and Davies with the conversion and then a drop goal increased the advantage to 17 points.

Blaydon did well to respond from the battering and were rewarded with a consolation score when the forwards moved it around to good effect and prop James Hallam dived over in the corner but near the end Cinderford broke through again.

In a flowing move the ever dangerous Wilcox drew the covering winger to send in Codlin for his hat-trick try that not only secured a bonus point for the Gloucestershire side but also saw them make ground on Tynedale in the relegation battle at the foot of the table.

John Brennan

RBS Six Nations on the big screen – all welcome

Round 3
21 Feb 14 8:00 PM Wales v France Millennium Stadium
22 Feb 14 1:30 PM Italy v Scotland Stadio Olimpico
22 Feb 14 4:00 PM England v Ireland Twickenham
Round 4
8 Mar 14 2:30 PM Ireland v Italy Aviva Stadium
8 Mar 14 5:00 PM Scotland v France Murrayfield
9 Mar 14 3:00 PM England v Wales Twickenham
Round 5
15 Mar 14 12:30 PM Italy v England Stadio Olimpico
15 Mar 14 2:45 PM Wales v Scotland Millennium Stadium
15 Mar 14 5:00 PM France v Ireland Stade de France

http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/home.php

Three Blaydon Teams progress in the Durham Cup

Great day for Blaydon in the Durham Cup competitions with all three Blaydon Teams (all current holders) progressing to subsequent rounds, without a point being scored against any team.

Quarter Finals:
Blaydon II 38, Westoe II 0
Hartlepool IIs 0, Blaydon Development 57

Semi Final:
Blaydon Bricks 39, Houghton Boars 0

http://www.durhamrugby.com/CountyCup/CupCompetitions2ndTeams.shtml

Blaydon Bricks 39, Hougton Boars 0

Bricks book place in the 4th Team Shield Final with an emphatic win over the Boars, scoring 39 unanswered points.

Photos by Damien: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313%40N08/collections/

The official ‘factual’ match report (for which I can only apologise for any unwarranted insults, but I have promised not to sensor it) was produced by Davy Hall.

My summary of the game, Very wet pitch with a good size crowd including lots of past Bricks players supporting the Bricks, they witnessed one of the best performances I have ever witnessed from a Bricks side. This was a fantastic squad result, with starters and subs contributing, our forwards were canny (immense really) taking many against the head with a rampant driving scrum pushing Boars scrum back in the mud. The tackling was relentless, whenever a Boar got the ball he got knocked back by 2 to 3 Bricks. The backs made great breaks but with a very muddy ball last catches/passes went astray at times, on a dry day they could have had a few scores.

The Boars challenged all the way to the end, but with the Bricks dominance in the scrum, taking many of their balls, they had little ball on the day. We will see them again in this competition.

Try Scorers: Stracs, Harry 2, Keith, Brett, Chris Collins and a Penalty Try.
Conversions; Lowsey 2

Bruce

The official factual Match Report from Davy Hall:

Semi final day and a good turnout to see the Bricks cruise into the final in what turned out to be perfect conditions for our pack.
Blaydon started the game quickly stamping there authority in the forwards which was to be the theme for the afternoon.

An early break from man mountain Marge was quickly recycled and within 5 minutes we had the lead 5-0 following a try from Strachan.

The early exchanges suggested the backs would be quite evenly matched with the Houghton centre looking particularly lively but as it turned out the Bricks backs answered every question with some good strong tackling and making good yards when in possession.

Within 10 mins we had a second try as the dominant pack pushed Houghton over the line for Harry to touch down and make it 10-0 despite a knock on which the referee missed, no TMO at this level unfortunately.

The conditions were difficult and by the time 20 mins had elapsed it wasn’t easy to make out which side was which. In reality the teams were only distinguishable in so much as we were the fat ones covered in clarts and they were the slightly less fat ones covered in clarts.
Approaching half time and the bricks extended the lead to 15-0 after a superb rolling maul lead to the third try scored by a fat bloke covered in mud believed to be Keith Winter.

Just before the break Stu Reay was penalised and asked the referee “What was that for Sir, over the top or in at the side?” To which the ref replied, “You choose”. Nice to see a man know when he’s done wrong!
The half time break and a discussion with rugby legend Jerry as to what the tactics should be in the second half. Such was the dominance in the forwards that Jerry suggested we should knock every ball on, give them the scrum, then hump them off it, making at least 5 yards everytime. There’s a fine line between genius and……. Jerry.

The second half carried on where the first had left off with the forwards superb and the backs not seeing too much of the ball but doing there job when needed.

It was 20 mins into the second half until the next score as Brett crashed over from 5 yards after good strong forward play once again to make the score 20-0 and very soon after the lead was extended further.

A Blaydon scrum 5 yards out led to an inevitable score as the pack easily pushed Houghton back over the line for Blaydons number 8 and Man of the Match Harry to touch down for his second try of the game. The introduction of the superstar Davey Lowes saw the first converted kick to take the score to 27-0.

Unfortunately soon after the shine was taken off the performance when Windy was shown a yellow card after appearing to strike a Houghton player at a ruck. The referee who all agreed had an excellent game said it would have been a red but for the saving grace of the punch being and I quote, “like a girl”. Punching like a girl is not acceptable when you’re representing the Bricks Windy, buck your ideas up.

With 5 mins to go the fairies out the back finally got in on the act. An excellent break by Phil Divers gave Speedy Gonzales Chris Collins on the wing the simplest of opportunities to cross the line and increase the lead to 32-0.

There was just time before the final whistle for another score.

A Blaydon scrum 5 yards from the line looked certain to result in what would have been a well deserved hat-trick try for Harry, only for the ref to award the penalty try after a little bit of Sylvester Sneakly Snidely Whiplash cheating from Houghton. The try was converted and the whistle blown making the final score 39-0.

A cracking performance against a decent side who would have caused us problems if we hadn’t been on our game but this was as good a performance as I remember seeing from the Bricks in difficult conditions.

So everybody’s happy and another day out booked in for 5th April, win the final, sing a few songs about lobsters hanging from ladies intimate areas, then let’s hang the shield back on the wall.

The other semi final was postponed yesterday due to the weather but Winlaton or Sunderland in the final. I fancy whoever wins that game is going to have a rather difficult task taking our shield away if today’s efforts are anything to go by.

Would be nice to see Winlaton in the final and renew rivalries with some good lads but then again the thought of giving some mackems a lesson is quite appealing too.

Blaydon 26 – Richmond 31

[match id=17]

It was all too easy for Blaydon in the opening stages as the visitors seemed hell bent on a hari-kari approach of walking the ball out of defence with a short passing game. Inevitably they either coughed it up or infringed and by the half hour Blaydon had ran in 4 tries and secured a bonus point.

All too easy indeed, but it quickly turned into a false dawn as the visitors stuck to their game plan and had began to stabilise the situation by the interval and went on to assume control and pull off a remarkable victory.

Blaydon director of rugby Micky Ward put his finger on it saying ” Did we deserve those 4 tries” and summed up the turnaround in which his side conceded 24 points unanswered and fell away badly saying “We just weren’t there, we lost the physical battle, we got 2 points but we were lucky to get them”.

Simon Barber got the opener in the 3rd minute when finishing off a simple overlap followed by Nathan Bailey just as easily from a tap penalty. It was then something of a surprise when the visitors in their first attack brushed aside some feeble tackling for James Kyle, a former Blaydon scrum-half, to cross near the posts.

Normal business was quickly resumed with Jason Smithson driven over from a rolling maul and then Barber in again with a neat dummy.to take it to 26-7 and a comfortable win on the cards?

With the final play of the half however Richmond proved just as adept with the driving line-out, Chris Davies touching down, and then things really went wrong for Blaydon.

Smithson and Chris Wearmouth went off injured, referee Wayne Falla awarded a string of penalties and in no time it became one-way traffic for the visitors. Winger Will Browne crossed without a finger laid on him, Louis Grimoldby brought the deficit down to 2 points with a penalty and on 70 minutes lock Harry Edwards hammered in the final nail with another close range effort.

John Brennan