Sandal 43 Blaydon 33

Sandal RUFC photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/onionbag/albums/72157672315575867/

Blaydon slumped to a second defeat of the season with a disappointing performance at Sandal in which they woefully failed to exploit the conditions when it was their turn to have use of the wind.
The home side were sharp out of the blocks and took the lead with a splendid solo effort by Colin Johnson who raced clear from half-way and then scored again through lock-forward James Whittaker and then Jon Gillespie.
When Blaydon finally got going centre Dan Marshall finished off a multi-handling movement to touch down under the posts with Jamie Guy on target with the conversion and by the break were just 5 points adrift.
Inexplicably they were then hemmed in their own half for long periods and some poor decision making and handling errors saw Sandal advance their lead to 36-14 with further tries from Gillespie, Alistair Johnson and Tom Johnson.
With defeat staring them in the face Blaydon at last began to assert with full-back Nathan Bailey on the end of some slick passing to race in from 30 metres. Skipper Keith Laughlin went over from a forward drive and then a Cameron Bell effort from close range brought it back to 36-33 and everything to play for.
With 4 minutes remaining another swift attack produced a 3 on 1 overlap and an almost certain try only for the referee to stop play for an injury. The chance was lost and to add insult to injury they then lost possession allowing Jon Wainwright to add another late try for Sandal.

John Brennan