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BRFCvNU2022

BRFC Coaching Set Up for 2023/24 Season

Ahead of Senior Pre-season training starting on the 29th June, we wanted to let people know of some changes in responsibilities in coaching for the coming season:

Following his success last season maintaining a regular place in the Falcons match day squad, which kept him away on game days, Sam will be stepping down from his Head Coach role to focus on the season with the Falcons. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Sam and also stress we look forward to him returning to the coaching team when his Falcons commitments rescind.

Providing continuity into the new season we are delighted to announce:

  1. Ralph Appleby will be taking the helm as Head Coach and establishing a new coaching team to support him, Ralph has made a really positive impact to Blaydon since his arrival last season and this is a natural step in his coaching career.
  2. Further appointments will be announced soon, on the supporting team of coaches

Ralph will be supported by a Senior Rugby Committee consisting of; Chris Nunn, Jim Houghton, Lee Hogarth and Paul Vinnicombe.

Touch 7’s Rugby Tournament at BRFC – June 10th 2023

Evening All,
Craig Harrison has been busy over the last few weeks pulling together a club Touch 7’s Rugby Tournament on Saturday 10th June, this is a fantastic event for the club.
We have 16 teams lined up to take part, including U14’s, U15’s, U16’s, Colts, Ladies, Georgian’s, Strach’s Touch Rugby Team, a few Parents Teams and the Fijian Army Team!!
It should be a great afternoon for the club and we would encourage folks get along for some entertainment and liquid refreshments at 1888 Sports Bar & Café.
All games will be 10 minutes, 1/4 pitch on the AGP with 15 minutes maximum between the games. The teams involved have already been provided with a fixture list, but there will be copies around on the day. The games will start at 1pm and finish at 5pm.
From 5.15pm we have live music from Bicker, so please get yourself along and support this fantastic event, which will be a wonderful opportunity for the club to socialise as a whole, as we have a wide range of teams from within the club playing, plus the Fijian Army Team, which will be entertaining!!
Many thanks for your continued support!!

Team Update for Blaydon RFC v Academy RFC Friendly Match

Blaydon RFC entertain Academy RFC from Northern Ireland who are touring the North East of England tomorrow afternoon, kick off 3pm on the AGP. Get yourself along and cheer on the Blaydon Boys!

First Mortgage (ne)

First Mortgage – Free Financial Health Check at BRFC

The team at First Mortgage will be at the club on Thursday the 18th May from 5-7pm. They are holding an ask the expert event.

 

You might be thinking of buying a house or how your son or daughter could get their first home.

 

If your thinking of moving or remortgaging the team can answer any questions you have on that too.

 

It could be you just want to know a bit more about what is going on with Mortgage interest rates and the market in general.

 

There will also be a financial advisor there with the first mortgage team so if you are wanting to look at your pension, retirement or how to make your savings work a bit harder pop down and see the team.

 

You can register for the event completely free of charge which starts at 5pm on the link below.

 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/financial-health-check-blaydon-rugby-club-tickets-630857280107

 

 

What a Weekend 2 x Finals and 1 x Semi Final

The season 2022/23 is almost drawing to a close, however we still have some fantastic fixtures over this weekend including two Final’s!

Firstly, on Saturday our Third XV are in County Cup Semi Final action at home against Houghton RFC, kick off 3pm on the AGP. This team beat Consett RFC in the last round and includes a number of our Academy Lads, who will be stepping up full time to Senior Rugby next year. Please get yourself along to Blaydon and support the boys, they would really appreciate it.

Perhaps tie in your trip to BRFC with a visit to the 1888 Sports Bar & Café to watch the Red Roses in action against France in the Six Nations decider, kick off 1pm.

On Sunday we only have one Youth Team at home with the U11’s taking on Morpeth RFC from 10am, good luck boys!

Our first final involving BRFC this weekend takes place at 11am at the DMP Arena, when our Under 15 Boy’s team take on Darlington RFC in the County Cup. The Bullets have been improving steadily throughout this season, so hopefully they can finish it on a huge high!! Please get yourself along to support the boys, go well men!,

Lastly our fabulous Red Kites First XV are in Plate Final action against Drybrook Ladies RFC on Sunday, kick off 3pm. Drybrook Rugby Club are based in Gloucestershire and were founded in 1893. The Final is being played at Sixways Stadium, Worcester, which will be a fantastic experience for both teams. Good Luck!!

A special mention to 15 Red Kites who are heading to the sunshine this weekend, when they take part in the Majorca Beach Rugby Tournament. I am not jealous in the slightest and I am looking forward to hear how the weekend went, hopefully some pictures will be posted next week, enjoy it, beach rugby, brilliant!!

Enjoy your weekend!

BRFC Seconds encouraged by Academy Debuts!!

BRFC Seconds had six Academy lads playing up yesterday which was great to see, well done to Taylor Owens, Nathan Rapley, Josh Chapman, Charlie Gray, Ewan Brown and Matthew Stewart. The score didn’t reflect the effort the lads put in during the game, battling throughout and it was always going to be tricky when seconds rows are playing at fly half and centre 😳 Still great experience and we go again next weekend when Northern RUFC are visiting Crowtrees Park  🏉👊👍

 

100 Club Update – February 2023

Please see below the updated 100 Club Draw winners!! Please get in touch with Stan for your winnings and many thanks for your continued support. There are numbers available should you want to get involved and help to support the club.

New Main Sponsor: First Mortgage North East

Blaydon RFC are delighted to announce their main sponsorship deal with First Mortgage North East initially for 2022/2023 season.  The club have entered into an agreement with First Mortgage initially for this season but are optimistic this will be the start of an ongoing relationship with them.

 

First Mortgage are already using the club facilities for their local business networking event “First for networking” which takes place monthly at the club. With a very informal atmosphere and mixture of businesses there are no limitations and has a simple goal of helping local businesses work with one another. It is open to any business and just like their advice it is totally free, if you would like to join their next event the link is below.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/first-for-networking-tickets-494927520537

 

First Mortgage are obviously best known for free whole of market mortgage advice and Blaydon RFC are delighted to be working with them.  “We are delighted to have agreed this sponsorship deal with First Mortgage, we really appreciate their support, we will make every effort to ensure they get value for money by pushing their brand throughout the club and the wider region.” Chris Nunn, Chairman of Rugby at Blaydon.

 

For any club players, officials or supporters who would like to discuss their mortgage options all free of charge please contact Colin Gill on 0191 4957952  or email colin@firstmortgagene.co.uk.

 

Chris Nunn

Chairman of Rugby

Blaydon RFC

Lots to be proud of but Blaydon lose again!!

Fylde started on the front foot from the kick off and after 5 mins of building numerous phases number 8 David Fairbrother went over in the corner.  Fly half Greg Smith was unlucky as he hit the post with the conversion.

Blaydon’s response was strong and from a midfield scrum they went right to James Cooney and then quickly recycled and spun it out left and winger Jonny Ashman took play to the Fylde 22 and a clever off-load was picked up by centre Zach Thompson to score out wide. Scrum half John Clarkson’s conversion was unsuccessful.

The next 25 minutes went by with both teams playing positive rugby and testing the oppositions defence but each time either team got momentum they made a mistake, so they were cancelling each other out with good well organised defence.  Frustratingly for the home side, on 33 minutes Fylde sprung to life through centre Sam Stott who ran a strong line through the Blaydon defence and full back Jordan Dorrington was on hand to take his path and score. Greg Smith converting this time.

 

Blaydon’s response was immediate and Replacement Full back Lewis Williams made a good break from inside his own half and his Kick ahead took play to the Fylde 5m line and a few forward drives later Hooker Charlie Smith went over the line to score. John Clarkson added the extras.

 

Half time Blaydon 12 v Fylde 12

 

The 2nd half started where both teams finished the 2nd with both teams playing positive attacking rugby. On 49 minutes a number of Blaydon penalties took Fylde to the Blaydon line and eventually Greg Smith went over in the corner much to the frustration of the home side who had seen a clear knock on in the build-up to the try, Smith failed to convert his own try.

The game turned at this point and it seemed so did  Blaydon’s luck and to an extent their composure, and on 57minutes with Blaydon now down to 13 men thanks to 2 yellow cards. Replacement centre / prop Scott Rawlings went through a stretched Blaydon defence to score unopposed. Smith converted.

 

Blaydon fought valiantly for the next 20 minutes and were pushing hard to be the next scorer but errors cost Blaydon field position and shortly after another Blaydon yellow card, Fylde Centre Connor Wilkinson went over for a try in the last play of the game. Greg smith converting

This was a harsh end to what was a good performance by the home side, some great intensity in defence and some strong attacking play by the backs. However we come away from the game with nothing apart from a feeling that if we can play with that level of effort and enterprise again against teams further down the table, we will surely start picking up points.

 

Full Time: Blaydon 12 v Fylde 31 

 

Blaydon: Bailey, Ashman, Cooney (C ), Thompson, Obonna, Dowell, Clarkson, Siddle, Smith, Dodds, Barry, Phillips, Turnbull, Roy, Hall-Lyon

Replacements:  Sanderson, Rewcastle, Leggetter, Douglas, Williams

 

Fylde: Dorrington, Turner, Wilkinson, Stott, Grimes, Smith, Potts, Barrow, Gregory (C ), Bowker, Parkinson, Corry, Harrison, Higginson, Fairbrother (C)

Replacements:  Parker, Higgins, Garrod, Lanigan, Rawlings

 

REFEREE:   Daniel Woods

ATTENDANCE:  205

STAR MAN:   Fylde – Greg Smith

 

Scorers:

Blaydon  12

Tries:     Thompson 10, Smith 34

Conversions:  Clarkson 35

Penalties:

 

Fylde 31

Tries:            Fairbrother 4, Dorrington 30, Smith 49, Rawlings 57 Wilkinson 79

Conversions:  Smith 31, 58, 80

Penalties:

Durham Under 18s end the Season Unbeaten!!

On Sunday 8th January, eight of our strong Academy were selected in the matchday squad for Durham County Under 18’s to face a physical Cumbrian side away at Lymm Rugby Club. This was part of the U20’s North of England selection series, so Cheshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Lancashire were also involved. More details to follow on this front in due course.

Congratulations to Jamie Lane, Max Gordon, Josh Chapman, Aidan Ferguson, Ewan Brown, Lloyd Hall, Ben Harrison, Leo Suliman, and Rhys Burt who were all involved in the match which was played in the best of conditions following the earlier downpours!

What a match Durham got off to a fast start, dominating the first half resulting in a 29-7 lead at half time. A multiple of changes at half time seemed to disrupt our play for the first 20 minutes of the second half, with Cumbria scoring straight from kick and dominating the play ending up with score being 29-24 with 20 minutes to go. Thankfully the Durham lads got themselves organised working through the phases powering on and getting the ball out wide to take advantage of the overlaps on both flanks.

The final score was Durham 44 Cumbria 29!! All the Blaydon lads put a huge shift in and this is the first time in many years that Durham Colts have ended their campaign unbeaten following their 19-17 victory over Northumberland before Xmas.

A special congratulations also needs to go to Paul Vinnicombe who has been drafted into the County Coaching squad. Paul has developed some of the older colts since they were at Primary School and many are still involved, which just shows how much the lads have enjoyed their time at Blaydon.