There is plenty of rugby taking place at Blaydon RFC this weekend, pop along and watch some potential stars!!

County Cup Semi Final Result – Bishop Auckland 8 – Blaydon 64

Try Scorers: Ewan Brown 3, Matthew Stewart 2, Dylan Kidd 2, Lloyd Hall 1, James Hill 1, Sam Green 1.
Conversions: Dan Tedstill 4 from 5, Dylan Kidd 3 from 4, Harry Campbell 0 from 1

Summary from Paul Vinnicombe

The first thing we talked about when we went into the changing room was our mental approach, and from the moment we left the changing room it was clear to see with all of the lads they were really up for this match and as the KO approached and they got in their huddle you could feel the intensity that was about to be unleashed by the mighty Roar of the squad!!I think we may have been a bit too worked up for this as we seemed very panicked for the 1st 5-10 minutes which saw Bishop Auckland benefit from a string of little mistakes and silly penalties which led to us going down by 3 points.

We restarted and with a tremendous back line racing up underneath the kick we forced an error and got the ball in our hand and from that moment all we done is show our physical dominance with every scrum, tackle & ball carry, everything we done we went forward.
Today’s game had it all, our set piece was solid- our forwards carried very well and defended fantastically. Our backs ran some great lines cutting through their defence like a hot knife through butter and when Bishop did manage to scramble back to make the tackle we had a support runner to take the offload.

EBI’s…..
– driving past the ball in the rucks so we can get quicker ball
– Scan and communicate, there was a few times after 3/4/5 phases Bishops front row found themselves out on the wing….. we need to recognise this and get the ball out to these areas for our backs to exploit the situation.

My Best Bits:
– Matty bounding 40 yards up the wing with his short line out, great strong run 💪🏃‍♂️
– Dan T’s great chip over into the corner for Dylan to finish off, good game sense Dan 👍
– Sam & James’s try, both fantastic running lines and finished off with great support play.

I’m very proud of the effort from the lads today I always say the only thing anyone can ask is for 100% effort and that’s what we got and the amazing rugby we seen was a definite bonus. The final is to be played on May 3rd against Westoe RFC who beat Darlington MP 12-7 in a tight affair! Venue/kick off times to be posted in due course.
#pumpthecrow #blaydonno1 #myrugbyfamily
#veryproudcoach

Blaydon RFC U15s 55 – Durham RFC U15s 19

Scorers: Aidan Ferguson 4, Sam Green 1, Taylor Hannant 1, Ewan Brown 1, Scott Aiston 1, Lloyd Hall 1
Conversions: Dan Tedstill 5 from 9

I am sure most of you are aware but Durham conceded the game due to not being able to field a competent front row, we decided to play a friendly with uncontested scrums. I didn’t tell the boys as I wanted to keep them sharp. The first half was great, we were making some fantastic dominant carries up front with Matty Stewart, Josh Chapman, Taylor Hannant & Lloyd Hall always gaining ground and keeping us on the front foot then showed our power and pace in our back line when we moved the ball wide. My try of this half started with our defence launching their blind side runner through the sideline around the opposition 10 yard line. Lewis V rose like a salmon in the 2 spot in the lineout, played it off the top into the safe hands of MR Forrest – the ball was then fired through the back line and eventually hit Aidan whom was steaming into the back line and as soon as the ball hit his hands you knew he was going to go over the line………. take a bow son!!

The second half seen us show our weakness in defence as a series of missed tackles led to them getting a few scores which was 1 of 2 disappointing parts of our performance today. The other was at the breakdown, our body positions weren’t too bad and we were getting over the ball but then we thought the job was done and we relaxed which gave us problems when they counter rucked. Apart from that we still dominated the 2nd half and I would like to say my favourite try was from the scrum 10/15 yards out with a pick and go from Ewan Brown, offload to Dan Tedstill about 5 yards from the line and again fired it through the hands to see Scott Aiston finish well in the corner. But Lloyd stole the show with a sneaky show and go about 30/40 yards out and glided through their defensive line to race in for a fine score.
All in all a good day at the office, well done men 👍💪👊🏻

The Semi Final is on February 2nd and Blaydon are travelling to Bishop Auckland for a repeat of their Quarter Final clash last year. (Summary from Paul V, pictures from Matt Forrest, many thanks)
#rugbyfamily #blaydonno1 #pumpthecrow