Saturday 7th January –  Blaydon Bricks 44, Houghton Boars 7

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Score line did not do justice to how competitive the Boars were in this game, the difference being the clinical finishing by the Bricks running in 8 trys, most of them from a distance. This was one of the best displays from a Bricks side for a long time.  It was great to see the size of the squad available, we had 9 subs and cover for all positions and fresh legs in the second half certainly took it toll on Boars.

Good to see the return of a few players:

  • Matt’s first games of the season, well since the start of last season really,
  • Steve Sewell returning from Injury
  • Biglad first game of the season and not many last, although he has been playing Vets
  • Ian Kelly available – Although he subsequently blotted his copy book on Facebook by suggesting we ban Moretti, suggest a changing room court case, post this weeks game, understand Sharon may be defending him….. prediction; Guilty as anything

Scorers:

Trys; Matt, Hopey, Lowsey 2, Damien A 2 & Liam 2

Conv. Divers 2

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

Also some to come from Chris Stewart – taking some with his camera

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Highs/Lows:

First half:

  • Having Matt at 10 obviously worried Boars with his direct running, first try came when he juggled the ball on the 22, Boars must have thought he’d drop it and backed off and he regained it and crossed for our first score.
  • Second try was a good forwards and backs combination, forwards making good yards, backs through it wide and Hopey ran it in.
  • 3rd Try Divers switches off Matt and pulled down short, Lowsey in support scores the try
  • 4th try another Divers break, sure Lowsey would say like a good supporting back row, he was on hand when Divers got pulled down short, for Lowsey to run in his second, (well from about 30 metres)
  • Boars just struggled with the movement in our backs all day
  • Liam played a great game, good tackling, handling and scoring trys from outside 22, his 2nd was a class finish – his girlfriend should watch more often.
  • Stracks – well what can one say, if you can’t quite get to a ball , knee it forward…. what!

2nd Half

  • So we changed the majority of the pack at half time, so everyone got at least a half, apart from Ian K, so elected for a last 20 mins trundle
  • Keith was very keen to play to run off his over indulgence during Xmas, so I moved him from Prop to blind side AND made him Captain, quietest (and reddest face) i’ve ever seen from him; tackle, run, make decisions and speak, he kind of got a combination of any 2 from 4 at each point……
  • Boars lost a prop and Tom went on for them, Steve P knew he had a competition at the next scrum, that woke him up
  • Not sure what happened on Divers first defensive move as the new full back, looked like ball on the ground was too far down to reach …..
  • Cliff got an elbow in the eye, (some may say what goes around, comes around) and came over to the sideline for treatment from our first aider Windy, who tipped a water bottle in his eye and told him to ‘Run it Off’ – post match discussion, we may need a new first aider
  • Grumpy was heard to provide advice to the referee during a scrum ‘ That was not very straight’ was heard clearly by the sideline – outcome as always referee declined the advice
  • Keith down on the floor, (my monies on getting his breadth back) doing something, passes ball to Damien A to drop him in the muck, ouch!
  • Blaydon set off on a 40 yard maul, it always amazes me why the opposite think pulling down a load of heavy lads at the front, will result in anything other, than the ones at the back continuing on and walking over the top (gently, using ballerina steps, naturally) the Blaydon pack emerge with clean boots….
  • There was calls for ‘Di*k of the Day’ award to be introduced, 2 prime candidates; 1) Cliff for a tree falling action in trying to get down to tackle a centre, he was well past Cliff by the time the timber was over. 2) Damien A stood big and tall to tackle one of Boars big forwards, ouch! that must of hurt as he tumble weeded backover.
  • Sure there was more, but due to the next item, who knows.
  • The night ended with Boat races in the Buchanan, me, not able to get down on the floor properly, due to pending knee replacement, secondarily and primarily due to the amount of Moretti consumed, while Windy checked his phone into Sharon’s overnight cleaning and charging service, she offers at the club (for the second time in a couple of weeks)

This coming weekend we take on Consett 3s, at home, in a league double header, after they cried off earlier in the season, good to see them running 3 teams again. Hopefully a chance to move up into top 4…… if we can win that 7 pointer. I think this is a one I hand over to the apprentice; Grumpy, (who is still reeling from losing his unbeaten record at Sunderland) as the week after they are swapping out my knee, then I’ll be on the road to recovery and fitness, the start of my comeback!

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  1. Keith Winter (Big Lad)
  2. Ian Bennie       (Grumpy)
  3. Tom Hirst        (Steve Pamer, Ian Kelly)
  4. Keith Oliver (Derek Turnbull)
  5. Steve Sewell (Cliff)
  6. Strachs        (Keith Winter)
  7. Lowsey
  8. Windy   (Stu Bailey)
  9. Stu Reay
  10. Matt Goodall
  11. Liam Bradley
  12. Damien A
  13. Divers (Chester)
  14. Paul Dingley (Damien S)
  15. Hopey (Divers)