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)