All News Articles Here
http://www.durhamrugby.com/CountyCup/CupCompetitions2ndTeams.shtml
2s drawn at home to Billingham if they progress past DMP in the delayed Quarter Final
Development drawn at home to West Hartlepool
Bricks Travel to Hartlepool IIs who are currently top of the Tees Valley league:
In a ding-dong battle from the start to the finish Blaydon were finally undone by some crucial errors and the brilliance of Fylde winger Oliver Brennand who scored all 4 tries for the visitors.
Blaydon held the lead 4 times, ahead by 24-14 in the 57th minute, but Fylde were never out of it and in the closing minutes looked more and more likely to secure a first win in 8 visits to Crow Trees.
“We could have won” said director of rugby Micky Ward “but whether we should have won is another story. If you make silly errors against a team who are hot in attack they will punish you”.
Blaydon took a 5th minute lead when Gavin Jones touched down from a tried and trusted driving line-out only to see Brennand scoot in for the first of his sniping scores. Back they came however and when another rolling maul was heading for the line Fylde pulled it down to concede a penalty try and Blaydon took a 12-7 lead into the break.
Brennand escaped for second time in the 42nd minute but once more Blaydon regained the advantage through Nathan Bailey who hacked on from half-way and won a remarkable chase to the line.
At this stage it was end to end stuff and home skipper Keith Laughlin prevented a certain try with a brilliant last ditch tackle, resulting in a short scrum. Blaydon then not only took the scrum against the head but after 2 quick passes Tom Penny was away from his own 22. The centre swerved past 2 would be tacklers to race clear for the try of the game and a second conversion for Andrew Baggett, that put Blaydon 10 points in front with 23 minutes remaining.
But Fylde were far from being done however and when Brennand intercepted on half-way for number 3 and then finished off a cross-field move in the closing minutes an away win was just about deserved, Chris Johnson landing his 4th conversion.
John Brennan
Blaydon went down narrowly at Old Albanians, contributing greatly to their own downfall by conceding a string of penalties and losing 2 players to the sin-bin in quick succession.
The home side had the early benefit of the wind and therefore lots of possession but excellent Blaydon defence gave then only limited scoring opportunities. They did take the lead however with a well worked effort completed by wing-forward Billy Johnson who strolled in unopposed.
Centre Dan Watt added the conversion but Blaydon were quickly on terms through skipper Keith Laughlin from a catch and drive, Andrew Baggett converting.
Honours were even at the break after Watt and Baggett each landed penalties to make it 10-10 and with their turn to use the elements still to come Blaydon should have been in the ascendancy.
Baggett was on target with another penalty, Laughlin repeated his first half score from close range and at 10-18 an away win was on the cards.
Sadly it all went wrong though a combination of ill-discipline and some dubious decisions. In the 59th minute Prop Robbie Morris was sent to the naughty step to be followed by Craig Willis a minute later.
In their absence Watt was given 2 more penalty opportunities and then with 6 minutes remaining hammered the final nail in the coffin with his 4th success of the game.
John Brennan
The Students usually have the ‘Indian sign’ over the home side and for 15 minutes were on schedule to continue the sequence. A Tom James penalty and Jack Pons try put them ahead with the Blaydon defensive line at full stretch and unable to get their hands on the ball.
Things then changed dramatically at the first scrum which saw the students in full retreat losing 20 metres, and at the next, and for the rest of the game.
By half-time the early 10 points reversal had become 17-10 with Tom Jeffery cutting a fine line in the corner, and Harry Bate under the posts from set pieces, and then a breakaway effort from home full-back Nathan Bailey after Loughborogh had inexplicably ignored a kickable penalty to tap and run only to lose possession.
Pons scored his second on 44 minutes with a fine run down the right only for Jeffery chasing an up and under to send in Toby Bain at the other end, a carbon copy of a disallowed effort minutes earlier.
Will Roberts charged down a Blaydon clearance resulting in a Harry Elrington try that took it to 24-20 and from then it was anyone’s game.
Andrew Baggett and Sam Pointon exchanged penalties, Loughborough retained possession for long spells, but in the end it was the Blaydon forwards who ruled the roost.
Star man: Matt Rogerson (Loughborough)
Referee: James Clarke
Attendance: 202
HT: 17-10 FT: 27-23
Scoring
Blaydon
Tries: Jeffery 23, Bate 30, Bailey 40, Bain 57
Conversions: Baggett 30,57.
Penalty: Baggett 66
Loughborough
Tries: Pons 10, 44, Elrington 62.
Conversions: James 10.
Penalty: James 4, Pointon 70.
Reporter: John Brennan
Pitch is fine and the game goes ahead today
KO 2pm at Blaydon’s Crowtrees Ground
There will be a pre-match lunch before the game against Loughborough Students
Lunch will be 12.00 for 12.30
Tickets £12 season ticket holders
Tickets £15 members
Tickets £22 for non members.
Guests welcome.
If you wish to book a place please contact Jim Huxley – jimhux@btopenworld.com as soon as possible
Thanks
Linda
Having being generally outplayed in the first half when they had the wind advantage Blaydon turned it round after the break and were unlucky not to have gone on to win.
High flying Rosslyn Park were much the better organised and monopolised the early play, taking the lead through their scrum-half Luke Carter who found a convenient gap near the corner.
Andrew Baggett pulled back 3 points when the home side were caught offside but Park scored again after Blaydon had failed to secure the ball and winger Neville Edwards finished off an excellent move.
With Park having the lions share of possession another try was inevitable and just before the interval Carter went in for his second after much re-cycling. None of the tries were converted and at that stage it was a deserved 15-3 lead for the home side.
It was all Blaydon at the start of the second period with the forwards now asserting themselves and after some considerable pressure in the 22 flanker Jason Smithson crashed over in the corner.
Disappointingly for Blaydon home winger Joe Ajuwa then broke clear down the right to secure a bonus try for Park and extend the lead to 20-8.
Going into the final quarter however Blaydon stuck to their task and after spending 10 minutes encamped in the corner were finally rewarded when centre Toby Bain touched down near the flag. Baggett added the extras and then almost set up a winning try with a delicate chip ahead. Winger Tom Jeffery raced through and with a fine catch was heading for the line when brought down by a last ditch tackle.
John Brennan
Top of the league clash sees Bricks come out on top, in what was some awesome forward power play, backed up by some great direct running by Blaydon backs and tremendous defence against a very young and extremely quick Panthers backline.
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313@N08/collections/72157647182482669/
It looked a bit ominous when Panthers showed up and we thought they were the 2nd team opposition and looked to have about 25 players and we had 2 no-shows, so only had 3 subs. We had a guest on the day, Bum Bum, who played (Blaydon player, currently at Winlaton) 4 games last season (so missed out on his Bricks top at 5 games) turned out for us for his second appearance this season as Keith Winter was away.
This could be a report with a few bad clichés, it was definitely about quality on the day, not quantity, Blaydon’s forward dominance was evident from the start with wave upon wave of Forwards running at the Panthers and literally battering them with contact. Scrums for either side resulted in the ball coming to Blaydon as the Panthers pack was marched back at a fast rate of knots. Lines outs were even possession and the only possession they got was when we got isolated and they got to the ball in greater numbers, but once it went out wide; Savs, Chester, Divers, Joe and Matt closed them down and then our pack took the ball off them.
Special mention to Adam and Ryan who have bruises following the encounter and are looking for steaks to put on them to be fit form Saturday. Also special, speacial mention for Ryan for his rampaging runs, as he asked for a special mention as he felt undervalued in previous reports ……….
Panthers were also not a squad who had played that much together, you can tell that, when the coaches on the side-line are shouting, hey ‘fullback’ as they couldn’t remember his name.
Scorers;
Trys: Finnas, Windy 2, Bum Bum 3
Conversion: Joe 1
Highs and Lows of the game:
This was a very determined team who drove out a result and only conceded the 17 point at the end after they tired (lack of enough subs and fitness levels, we discussed training again in the bar, for 30 seconds, but the laughter drown out the conversation) and Panthers took the game uncontested. The display was immense from forwards and backs and one of the best, most competitive games the Bricks have played for a long time, with Panthers competing until the end .
Next week is another league game, with a trip to Ashington, if we get this team available again next week, it’s hard to see anyone in this league stopping our run, let’s see who’s available next week.
Team:
1. Finnas
2. Bum bum. (Ian Bennie)
3. Ryan
4. Horse
5 Adam
6 Strachs. (Bum Bum)
7 Stu Bailey
8 Windy.
9 Liam
10 Savs
11 Damien. (Phil Rayson)
12 Chester
13 Divers
14 joe Snowdon (Paul Dingley)
15 Matt
Former Blaydon first team pals Andy Fenby and Ralph Smith had a shock reunion this week at Premiership side London Irish.
With Fenby in good form on the wing for the Exiles, he was joined at the Madejski Stadium by former Blaydon full back Smith, who was unveiled as the new London Irish match day doctor.
Let’s hope Fenners doesn’t have to spend too much time with the doc but we wish them both the best of luck.
Congratulations to several of the under 18 team who have recently been in action for the Falcons in the Premiership U18 league.
Ruaridh Dawson, Jack Appleton, Anthony Davis and Dan Gray (all Newcastle School for Boys) and Elliott Beattie (Gateshead Academy) have been involved in recent fixtures against Yorkshire Carnegie, Gloucester Rugby, Northampton Saints and Worcester Warriors.
Scrum half Ruaridh has also recently been selected for the North of England 18 group in their upcoming divisional campaign.