BLAYDON FINALLY KICK START THEIR SEASON!!
Blaydon started brightly and quickly found themselves camped in the right corner of the Sheffield 22 and after 5 minutes of numerous 5m line outs, scrums and phases of pressure, the Sheffield defence eventually broke as Darren Barry got the over the line from barely 6 inches out. Fly half Zach Thompson kicked the conversion.
The next 10 minutes passed without much excitement, but Blaydon continued to dominate possession and were playing very much on the front foot and on 18 minutes from a good attack down the left wing led to Number 8 Ethan Clarke being held up over the line. However, the subsequent Sheffield goal line drop was charged down by Will Varley and the ball was recovered by Blaydon 2nd row Austin Phillips. The ball was quickly recycled then passed out left and a clever and well weighted grubber kick by Centre Ewan Greenlaw was touched down by Alex Charlton, this time conversion was unsuccessful.
A Blaydon penalty on halfway gave Sheffield a good kick which gave them a line out on the Blaydon 22 and a few phases later Sheffield number 8 Alex Bawdry picked the ball up from what appeared to be an off side position in a maul but it went unnoticed by the officials and he went in under the posts. The conversion was easily kicked by Scrum Half Elliot Fisher.
Blaydon responded immediately from the kick off as 2nd row Darren Barry won the jump contest from the kick off and the ball went through a few phases before it was passed to Ethan Clarke who smashed through 2 or 3 defenders to score. Zach Thompson easily converting.
Frustratingly for Blaydon on the stroke of half time Sheffield ran a good move in their backs which fed in winger Matt Adcock who took play to 10 metres out from inside his own half. A couple of phases later the ball was passed to out back to Adcock who scored wide out. Fisher missed the conversion.
Half Time Blaydon 19 v Sheffield 12
Sheffield started the 2nd half on the front foot, and on 45 minutes fly half Callum Posa sold the dummy back inside which the Blaydon defence dually went for and he went through on Blaydon full back Nathan Bailey but this time Posa wisely passed back inside to left winger Christian Hooper to score, again easily converted by Fisher which tool the scores level for a short time.
Blaydon response was quick thanks to an error by Sheffield at the restart which led to a penalty on the 22 which Zach Thompson knocked over for 3 points and restoring the home side’s lead.
The next 15 minutes was pretty much stalemate, but good Blaydon defence led to a Blaydon penalty on the halfway line which they kicked to the corner. This led to about 5 minutes of pressure in the Sheffield 22 and eventually after numerous penalties, a few scrums and numerous short one out phases, Alex Charlton eventually went over the line for the bonus point score. This try again converted by Thompson giving Blaydon a 10-point cushion with 12 minutes to go.
Although there was an anticipated response from away side it came to nothing, and the next score came from Blaydon on 76 minutes with Sheffield conceding a penalty on their own 10 metre line and Zach Thompson stepped up to converted it between the posts to put the home side 13 points ahead.
Thankfully that turned out to be the final score of the game with Blaydon finally getting their first win of the season.
Full Time: Blaydon 32 v Sheffield 19
Blaydon: Bailey, Williams, Marshall (C), Greenlaw, Thompson, Horsfall, Fearn, Gray, Dodds Barry, Phillips, Charlton, Varley, Clarke.
Replacements: Rewcastle, Smith, Wright, Clarkson, Appleton
Sheffield: Kimpton, Adcock, Flint, Smith, Hooper, Posa, Fisher, Whitney, Noble, Hicklin, Parsons, Claydon, Hignell, Taylor, Fawdry (C)
Replacements: Keeton, Rogers, Crapper, Vitta, Finn
REFEREE: Michael Harris
ATTENDANCE: 178
STAR MAN: Zach Thomson – Blaydon
Scorers:
Blaydon 32
Tries: Barry 6, Charlton 18 & 68, Clarke 34
Conversions: Thompson 7, 35, 69
Penalties: Thompson 46, 76
Sheffield 19
Tries: Fawdry 31, Adcock 40, Hooper 43
Conversions: Fisher 32, 44
Penalties:
