Sheffield 20, Blaydon 14

 

Blaydon disappointingly lost out in windy conditions at bottom of the table Sheffield, a side that belied their lowly status with some impressive forward play.
The visitors had their chances and could have pulled it out of the fire near the end but for much of the game were bossed around in the loose and could make little progress.
With the first half wind advantage however they grabbed a 9th minute lead when flank-forward Rob Lenderyou crashed over near the posts and full-back Ryan Foreman added the simple conversion.
Sheffield then levelled on the half-hour through Dan Rylands after a long spell of pressure, the prop-forward burrowing over from close range and scrum-half Steven Detledge on target with the conversion.
With the interval approaching and Blaydon a man down due to a yellow card offence the home side gained a half-time lead of 14-7 thanks to an excellent break by their fly-half Fergus Wood with Detledge once more adding the extras.
Whilst Blaydon had not made sufficient use of the wind advantage the home side in turn were just as wasteful and in a disappointing second period only one further try was scored. In one of the best spells of the game Blaydon moved it around for at least 10 phases before centre James Cooney with a neat dummy finished off in style.
Foreman’s conversion made it 17-14 and everything to play for but after Detledge had landed a penalty for the home side both winger Tom Gorman and Cooney were held up just short as Blaydon pressed for a winner.

John Brennan