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Blaydon 21 – Coventry 16

[match id=91]

On paper it was second off bottom versus second from top but Blaydon belied their lowly league position to grab a well deserved first win of the season.

They got off to a cracking start, scoring after just 3 minutes and then defended magnificently when Coventry ran at them with an abundance of possession. By mid-way through the second period Coventry, who had scored 18 tries and 143 points in their first 4 games so far rarely looked like breaking through and Blaydon with two more tries went on to open their account in style.

A delighted Director of Rugby, Micky Ward, said afterwards “They are a good side and we knew it was going to be tough but the defence held solid and with a couple of good carries the lads grew in confidence”.

The start could not have been bettered with winger Sean Brown using good line-out ball to break clear from his own half to race into the 22,hauled down inches short. Coventry were then pushed off their own ball at the scrum and from a Blaydon put-in Jonny Burn shipped it out to Tom Jeffery who touched down near the posts and Andrew Baggett added the extras.

The visitors then retained possession for long spells but without ever looking likely to pierce a resolute Blaydon defence had only reduced their deficit at the interval by 2 Cliff Hodgson penalties.

Hodgson put his side in front for the only time with another penalty 8 minutes into the second period but Blaydon began to assume control. They won a scrum against the head in the Coventry 22 and then a penalty from which Burn took a quick tap and Jason Smithson finished it off, Baggett converting.

From another short scrum on 63 minutes Baggett made a half break only to be held up but when the forwards piled in Chris Wearmouth picked up and dived over.

Baggett’s third conversion made it 21-9 and there was no way back for the visitors although they did gain consolation and a bonus point with a breakaway try by their scrum-half Louis Silver in time added on.

John Brennan

Gateshead Sports Award – Don’t Forget to Vote!

If you have not already voted for the Gateshead Sports Award, please do vote by 11 October

Blaydon RFC have been shortlisted and we need as many votes as possible to secure the award. Please ask family and friends to vote

You can vote at www.gateshead.gov.uk/People%20and%20Living/award/award.aspx

Note
Pre match lunches will be available before 1st team home games. If you are interested please advise Jim Huxley or Bill Locke by the Wednesday preceding the relevant match with the numbers in your party. Price is £20 including match entry or £10 to Season tickets holders.

Thank you for everyones continued support through Easy Fundraising – Shop online and raise money for the club by registering at: http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/blaydonrfc/

Whenever you shop on line, easyfundraising will donate a percentage to the club without any extra cost to you.

Past players Lunch – Sat 19th October

Blaydon RFC Past Players and Members Lunch
SATURDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2013

BLAYDON V CINDERFORD ( GUESTS WELCOME)
12.00 Noon for 12.30pm
Three course lunch before the game

Tickets
£22 (includes match entry and programme)
£18 Concessions to season ticket holders

Hartlepool Rovers 45 – Blaydon Development 26

[match id=137]

16 names on paper but another 5 changes from last week, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Having to play so many players out of position the team was never going to balance and the result was a fair reflection on the state of the Blaydon team this week rovers kicked off downwind with the sun at their backs.

Using their knowledge of the home turf they used the long kick down field putting Blaydon under pressure scoring the first try after 3mins. After 10mins we were 14 points down. Blaydon began to turn things around and scored when Coyne jinked his way into space and ran in under the posts converting to make it 14/7. We continued to fight back but Moggas caught a head in the face which left him seeing double, he was replaced by young Roddas from the bricks. When it looked as if we would be ending the first half 14-7 a bad clearance kick gave the ball to a Rovers centre, to score on 43 mins and finish the half 21-7.

The strong wind had helped rovers but it was our turn now, and we all thought we could turn the game around. From the start we began to put a few plays together, edging our way deeper in to rovers 22,but at a ruck Rovers had numbers and turned over the ball for their backs to run in try number 4 score 26-7. This was a kick in the teeth we were finding it hard to move the ball around having so many players out of position and this 4th try came against the run of play. Rovers became more dominant in the forwards arriving in numbers and working hard to turn over the ball resulting in another score 33-7.

Jack Harding who had been persuaded in to playing despite having a bad back had to retire on 60 mins we went down to 14 men. To our credit we never gave up and we were rewarded when Coyne broke the line to score his second try 33-14. Adam Heddon who at half time had rubbed deep heat on his package in an attempt to ease a groin strain had to limp off with his overcooked sausage and we were down to 13. Moggas returned to the field of play. Hartlepool were by now the better team but we stuck at our task and after some good phases of play we were awarded a penalty 15mtrs out, quick thinking by Ryan Denholm saw him take a quick tap and power over the line 33-21. With 15 mins to go our tails were lifted. However from the KO Moggas caught another boot to the face and had to come off. Going back down to13 men allowed rovers to score again 38-21.

The home team began to finish much the stronger but we still had a bit left in the tank. On 70 mins from loose play 15 mtrs out bumbum wrestled his way clear to score in trade mark style leaving a trail of bodies 38-26. In the last 5 mins of the game as rovers attacked our line another Blaydon player had to leave the field because of injury. To rovers credit they gave us a player and managed to score the last try of the game to make it 45-26 today Hartlepool were the best team and deserved the win. No game next week time for us to lick our wounds but let’s hope the club solves the player shortage because travelling with a under strength team does nothing for moral.

Rosslyn Park 41 – Blaydon 15

[match id=90]

Blaydon must have known it was not going to be their day when the train broke down at Stevenage involving a long wait for a replacement and then transference of kit and a late arrival.

Not surprisingly they were not at their best and never looked likely to grab an elusive first win of the season. The final score-line might suggest a one-sided game but apart from falling away in the last 15 minutes they were always in contention and at 22-15 anything could have happened.

Unbeaten Park led at the break by 12-5 thanks to 4 penalties from their full-back Sam Katz but Blaydon had the satisfaction of scoring the only try of the half, by who else but Robert Bell playing in what is likely to be his last game for the club.

The flanker crashed over in typical style from the most typical of Blaydon moves, a rolling maul following a line-out, and his prolific try scoring ability will be sorely missed.

A poor tackle let in Park centre Charles Gower soon after the restart with Katz landing the conversion and then a penalty but Blaydon hit back immediately. Andrew Baggett struck a fine penalty and then added the extras when Tom Bramwell cut through at speed to touch down under the posts.

With everything to play for disaster struck when prop Micky Ward was injured and Robbie Kalbraier came back on as replacement only to be sent off seconds later for a yellow card offence at a line-out.

Things then went from bad to worse in the final 15 when Park were allowed to dominate and galloped away with tries from Dominic Shaddo, Henry Staff and ex-Tynedale No8 Sam Shires plus 2 more conversions by Katz.

John Brennan

Blaydon Development 63 – Novos 20

Availability was again a problem. Since last time out 2 weeks ago we had lost 7 more players 2 of them to the second team leaving the cupboard bare, there wasn’t a spare player in the club. Despite the return of Ryan lynch on leave from the army and the return of Calum Forsyth from university we were well down in numbers, so a big thanks goes out to Scott Finlay for not only putting in a fine captains performance today, but for taking the time out to round up players from thin air, 2 of them arriving with less than 5 mins to kick off. It’s been a loss to the club that last year’s  u18s were binned, 3 of these lads were from that squad  coached by Scott so he knew the quality of the players he was  bringing in.

At 2:30 pm both teams were out, warming up, or in our case 1 1  Blaydon players were basking in the sun watching 20 odd Novos players going through their routine, it was going to be a tough day. 2:40pm Ryan Denhome followed by Charlie arrive.  At 2:45pm 13 Blaydon players make their way to the pitch behind the stand. 2:55pm and 2 more players run from the changing rooms across to the pitch Finaz had delivered the goods. With less than 5 mins to go, we had our 15.

The top pitch for once was in very good nick it was hot and very bright. The whistle blown and we were off to a flying start Novos under pressure from the start. To those watching Blaydon looked like a team that had been playing together for years not 5 minutes. Once again the impressive Blaydon pack bossed the game up front setting up the backs looking equally impressive to strike. In defence the Blaydon backs were up on their opposite man in their space preventing them from moving the ball the tackle going in and the chasing back row of Charlie and Calum tuning the ball over. Our front row of Fozzy, Finaz and Ryan backed up by Mogaas at 8 and our utility player Joe who can play at any position asked, paired with glen at 2nd row overwhelmed the athletic looking Novos.

This was a great game to watch, Blaydon scoring 9 tries all converted by Joe why i man back at 10. Some of these kicks where from the corner flag and very difficult, but all sailed over. Ryan and Adam in the centre    Martin and Scott on the wings and Haiden at full back all played a part in a complete team performance.

With 15 minutes remaining the heat and lack of replacements gave Novos who had never given up the chance to score 2 tries. One last rally by Blaydon gave the home team the final try .

Final score Blaydon 63 – Novos 20

Blaydon 25 – Esher 35

[match id=89]

Looking back to last weeks game at Tynedale it was a case of deja vu for Blaydon with them having to weather a tremendous storm in the opening quarter then fighting back to finish the stronger only to lose out in the end.

They led on 17 minutes, half-time and again on 50 minutes but then some poor play and errors saw them concede 3 tries in a 10 minute spell, particularly a poor clearance that was charged down.

A disappointed Director of Rugby, Micky Ward, felt the final score was not a true reflection on the game, saying “We put some great stuff together at times and I thought we were in control in the second half until we had a silly 5 minutes when they scored a couple of tries”.

They could have been 2 tries down in the opening 5 minutes but just held on despite Nathan Bailey being yellow-carded on his own line, and then led by 2 Andrew Baggett penalties to 1 from Luke Daniels.

Esher went ahead with a Pat O’Grady try but right on the interval Tom Bramwell, a replacement for Tom Penny, collected a loose ball and stormed over to make it 13-10 at the break.

Daniels levelled with a penalty but Blaydon were back in front when they spoiled the visitors line-out ball and Tom Banks scampered over beneath the posts.

And then it all went wrong. In no time at all they conceded a short scrum to let in Andrew Wright, failed to hold elusive winger Spencer Sutherland down the left, and gifted a third to Stewart Maguire.

Good work by the pack at two successive line-outs from penalties brought reward for Robert Bell to take Blaydon into a score that would have given them a deserved losing bonus point, only to be denied in the final play when Wright grabbed another try for the visitors.

Micky Ward was by no means despondent however, saying “We’re starting to play some really good rugby. It’s tough to take but you have to remain positive”.

John Brennan

Saturday 21st September – Winlaton IIs 25 v Blaydon Bricks 22

Photos:    http://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313@N08/collections/

Scorers
Trys Chris Collins, Jerry, Joe
Conv Thacks 2
Pen Thacks

A friendly with Winlaton, draw would have bene a good result for such a close encounter, game played in good spirit, hard but fair, a good social event, 3 retirements from rugby; Kevin Scott, Paul Burr and Tony Rutherford, followed by a few beers, all in all a good day..

Similar story to previous seasons, it takes the Bricks a few weeks to get going and again we were short of players on the day with a few last minute cry offs / no shows. Winlaton thankfully loaned us a player, thank you, Grumpy played a blinder and played almost 65mins, Drennon showed up to watch and came onto play.

This game could and should have been won, but we got drawn into a close encounter exchange, when every time we went expansive and off-loaded in the tackle, Winlaton had no answer and we ran in good trys.

Highlights of the game:

  • Keith’s new married life seems to have affected his balance, twice breaking through and tripping over the long grass….
  • Jerry, making a return from a few seasons at Consett played scrum half and annoyed the dickens out of Winlaton. Played well, scored, tackled well, but lost ball in contact close to the line.
  • We had a Turland father and son centre partnership with Dan (playing last game before he returns to uni) and Andy.
  • Dan, Chris and Joe made great yards in open play
  • Nat tackled everything and got beat up by the opposition, a tribute to how much he annoyed them
  • Big Lad continued his impressive return, Winter brothers love this sort of encounter and Brett made a good return
  • Thacks was good kicking from hand

Next week is a rest week, before returning to league action on 5th Oct v Ashington IIs away and given the amount of injuries we have the rest comes at an opportune time.

1 Paul Winter
2. Grumpy
3. Brett
4. Mike (Winlaton)
5. Big Lad
6. Craig McBurnie
7.  Nat
8.  Keith Winter
9.  Jerry
10.  Thacks
11.  Chris Collins
12.  Andy Turland
13.  Dan Turland
14.  Liam Bradley
15.  Joe Snowdon

Tynedale 25 – Blaydon 24

In the end there was just one point in it but Blaydon gave themselves a mountain to climb with a wretched start and a first half deficit of 16 unanswered points. To their credit they turned it round in the second period and but for conceding a string of penalties might have gone on to sneak a 4th ‘derby’ win in a row.

At the start however they were caught stone cold by a Tynedale side that ran with purpose from the kick-off and were 13 points clear after just 10 minutes courtesy of some excellent short sharp passing. Gavin Beasley got the ball rolling with a second minute penalty and then added the points when brother Grant scooted over in the corner.

Another lightning break saw full-back Jack Harrison stopped inches short but Hamish Swales in support was over in the corner, and Blaydon had scarcely laid a hand on the ball.

Things improved slightly for the visitors but after another Beasley penalty on 40 minutes the half ended with Blaydon not having set foot in the home 22.

Whatever was said during the break had an instant effect as the forwards set off in determined fashion and within 3 minutes of the restart four of them had charged the Tynedale line leading to an Andrew Baggett penalty and a score on the board.

Good work by Jason Smithson got them back upfield in quick time to again set siege to the home line, and after a dart by Jonny Burn had almost succeeded hooker Fran Entressengle burrowed over. Baggett put over the conversion and it was now 16-10 and everything to play for.

Sadly, Beasley was presented with 2 more straightforward penalties and then another for replacement Craig Willis, but once more Blaydon hit back when an up and under from Baggett was pounced on by Tom Jeffery who stormed into the 22 for James Hallam to touch down and Baggett convert.

Into injury time and still with an 8 point deficit Blaydon were set on having the last word and a now ragged Tynedale again failed to hold the visitors pack.

Chris Wearmouth gathered in at a short line-out, a rolling maul looked promising but was halted and when the ball was released Jeffery stormed over by the posts.

The successful conversion brought the game to an end and a Tynedale win but Blaydon had secured a well earned bonus point and the satisfaction of having outscored their opponents by three tries to two.

John Brennan

Sat 15th September – Ryton 22, Blaydon Bricks 8

Photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313%40N08/collections/

Trys Paul Dingley
Penalty Joe Snowdon

A moral victory, but at a high cost. The last thing we needed after no training, no warm up games, for the first game of the season was to play a Ryton 3 team fixture loaded with first team ringers, including the first team player coach.

If we could have keep a full team on the pitch it could have been a very different score. We had a boat load of injuries Windy, Strachs, Diver, Andy Turland, Liam Bradley, Chris Collins and were down to 12 men at one point when a Ryton player on the side line changed and came on.

It started well, we were 3 nil up at half time and the Ryton game plan being nullified in every phase and even the normal Ryton power play scrumage ‘softened’  by the new scrum laws. But numbers were always going to tell and the fitness, naturally

Highlights:

  • Big Lad is back and was straight back to business as if he had not been away
  • Alex, Liam’s brother made an impressive debut after not playing for years
  • Paul Dingley scored his first time try for the team
  • Andy Turland almost lasted a whole game
  • Joe Melia did a great job as hooker, got round the park well and can throw in straight…..
  • Liam had the best game we’ve seen him play, with numerous snipping runs
  • Thanks to Finnas, Stephen Dryden and Joe Melia from the development for playing for us
  • Poor Robin had to work really hard as physio, with injuries all over the place, I think we need to get him a motor scooter to get him around the pitch if this is going to continue

Next week we have a friendly with Winlaton, which should be a good social event with Kevin Scott, Paul Burr and Tony Rutherford playing their last game of rugby, in what is a retirement game. Few beers in order I think.

1 Paul Winter (Dir)
2. Joe Melia
3. Big Lad
4. Windy   (Stephen Dryden)
5. Marge
6. Andy Turland
7. Harry (Dir)
8.  Strachs
9. Liam Bradley
10.  Joe Snowdon
11.  Alex Bradley
12.  Phil Divers
13.  Chester
14.  Paul Dingley
15. Chris Collins