Bricks Match Reports

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Bricks lose out to Wallsend XV

Roving reporter update by Nic

 

“A Game of Two Halves”- the classic cliche rings true again as Colts provide some pride -Nicholas Eatch SportsByte

Blaydon Bricks welcomed Wallsend to an autumnal Crow trees Riverside pitch.

The opposition strengthened by the absence of a first team fixture certainly looked the part. Adorned in green and gold they came out of the stalls akin to rampant J P McNammara stallions, and quickly dominated Blaydon.

Blaydon suffered at the hands of some weak ‘D’and were caught out a couple of times by simple kicks over the top. In contrast, Blaydon’s normally super consistent fly half James Murray had left his kicking boots somewhere unknown and wasted good possession and territory on a number of occasions.

To be fair to Murray he certainly held his hands up after the game in a speech full of passion and humility. Two of the essential ingredients of any successful team.

The combination of missed tackles and lack of drive gong forwards saw the Wallsend scores coming thick and fast.

Cameron Richardson, Bricks hooker, unfortunately had to come off after a collapsed scrum left him with neck injuries and was replaced by Luke Tonks who was itching to get in at two.

Joel Atkin had already been withdrawn after 20 minutes and was replaced on the wing by Billy. Barlow. This added a little more zip into defence and helped the young colt Max Robinson – playing his first game for the Reds – who had done his best to plug gaps in Blaydon’s back line but despite his best efforts and others Blaydon trailed at half-time a thumping 0 to 31!

This was the time to show that cliches only become cliches as they contain large elements of truth. Rugby is a game of two-halves.

Inspired by their coaches wise words at half time, as Winters and Miller ripped into them – eyes gradually lifted from staring at the floor to looking with a sense of determination at each other – as a sense of pride needed restoring if this score was not going to end in embarrassment.

Thankfully due to a great turnout by the Bricks squad, Blaydon’s management were able to make whole scale changes as the second half beckoned.

With five colts now on the pitch – Jacob, Joey, Kieran, Mathew and Max – right from the off a new determination was heralded in.

Other changes saw Peter Davison and Lee Guest come into the centres where they showed great grit taking the crash ball and stopping the crash ball time after time. Unfortunately on occasion they were isolated and inevitable turnovers – an area for the Bricks to work on at the breakdown.

Ewan Lowry brought further aggression to the flanks and Mark Hall and Paul Elwood bought fresh legs into the second row.

Blaydon captain Murray even found his kicking boots with a number of superb penetrating kicks; taking full advantage of the slight downhill gradient that the riverside pitch afforded the home team in the second half. Stuart Bailey back from two years on the sidelines looked angry and inspired at nine, and kept the phases ticking over, even if it meant at times walking over the competition.

In fact the injury count now swung around with Wallsend losing one of their players with a suspected broken arm as pride in D and aggression in attack was vigorously reinstalled.

After a long period of sustained phases of pick-and-go forward attack, Blaydon went over with a delighted 17 year old Jacob driving over from close out and Murray making the conversion on 51 minutes..

And from the 41st minute that is where 75 percent of the second half was played out, in Wallsend territory. The relentless pressure started to cause the visitors some disciplinary problems when their 6 feet 6 inch second rower -who had been dominating the line-outs in the first 40 – was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle.

This seemed to infuriate the opposition’s scrum half – who was very vocal throughout the game as many number 9’s are! Cliche confirmed. In fact at one point he looked certain to see red as tempers flared but the referee was extremely lenient with him.

However, rather than Blaydon manipulating ‘the niggle’ to their advantage, a couple of scruffy mistakes led to Wallsend on 58 minutes going through in almost mirror like fashion to Blaydon’s try.
Their number ten converted, 7 all second half.

…and that is how it stayed, despite touchline heroics from Max at fullback , a broken nose for Jacob and a whole lot of pride for five young players and their parents. Without doubt the five colts gelled brilliantly with their wrinkled, but wise, Bricks cohort.

Blaydon just needed to stay slightly calmer on the floor and clear out faster at the breakdown. If they had of done this the second half was definitely there for the taking.

After the game some tempers flared on the red side of the fence but that is what rugby is – passion – and both the combatants have that passion in abundance and friendship was and will be quickly… and wisely restored.

So although the match was a defeat on the scorecard – for the Blaydon players and their watching faithful, it certainly didn’t feel that way in the end.

A game of two-halves indeed.

1) Chris Davidson
2) Cameron Richardson (Luke Tonks – 40)
3) Kieran Duffy
4) Matthew Johnson (Ewan Lowry – 15) (Paul Elwood – 40)
5) Steve Sewell (Mark Hall – 40)
6) Robert Pyle (Jacob – 40)
7) Joey Davidson
8) Paul Dagglish (Ewan Lowey – 60)

9) Stu Bailey
10) James Murray (C)

11) Joel “the fuzz” Atkin (Goggle (Craig Barlow- 20)
12) Andrew McAdam (Lee Guest – 40)
13) Kieran “Charlie” Sheen (Peter “the” Bath – 40)
14) Peter Davidson (Hopey – 40)
15) Max Robinson

 

 

More Kicking Tee Bishop? Brave Blaydon Bricks kicked into touch by Auckland’s young Academy heroes.

Blaydon Bricks 13 Bishop Auckland 21

Match report from the southern softie Nic, who sat in the car away from the cold and rain for some of the game…


A cold, wintery and drizzling day welcomed Blaydon’s visitors – Bishop Auckland – who made the trip up the A1. Saturday October, 2nd, 3pm kick-off Crowtrees.

With two wins on the bounce, coming against South Shields and Winlaton from the previous week, the Bricks were quietly confident going into this contest.

Blaydon had strength in numbers with a full bench despite missing a couple of key players, notably Joel Alexander.

Lee Guest, 35, inside centre and Blaydon’s Captain- was asked if his team would miss Alexander’s services. Would it be like Barcelona without Messi, Argentina without Maradona?

Guest didn’t make a retort only giving a wry smile – but you could see in his eyes how he really felt about Alexander.

FAST START FOR BRICKS

Blaydon came flying out of the blocks first after 3 mins. Mark Todd, 27, second row, looked more like a wide receiver in the Gerry Rice mould ; performing aerial acrobatics to keep the ball in play before quickly recirculating.

James Murray,29, Blaydon’s talented ten, then went on a dazzling trade mark run, only to be stopped five-yards out, when Damien Shaw, 35, was hit by a rocket splitting tackle in two and spilling the ball forwards, knocked on.

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH A DEE

Great Auckland defence – everything doesn’t start with a D – but it should -but that it would make it “Deverything” which is not a word – kept the Bricks at bay, after a fantastic rolling maul down the right.

In fact, it took a full eight minutes, before Auckland crossed the half-way line, as Blaydon dominated the opening exchanges.

DAGLISH STANDS TALL

Paul Daglish, 34, Blaydon number eight, went on the first of many superb runs, handing off for fun but the Auckland D stood firm.

Some great D from Blaydon’s diminutive right-winger Dingley, 43, kept Auckland out after a kick over the top; Dingley propelling his legs up-to top speed to kick the ball dead to keep out the visitors.

Murray, 29,then from the resulting drop out after the ball rebounded back , intelligently kicked into space over the top. In a race against a young Auckland back, with nothing then between the ball and the try line – apart from space to run – glory beckoned.

However, the younger defender [and fresh out of the academy] had the legs, but Murray realised this, using his brain to hold back and supported by Bricks Captain – and soon to be first time father Guest – did their joint best to win the ball on the floor, but still the Auckland D held firm, like a scene from Rourkes Drift. Surely the Auckland thin blue back line would be breached by the Blaydon fattened and primed red line eventually?

Unfortunately on 20 minutes Blaydon lost their young scrum-half, who appeared to have disc-located his shoulder, exiting the Riverside pitch in considerable pain. His replacement three times his age and half the height – the wiley old Winlaton fox Wharton, 49, who is enjoying a loan spell.

AUCKLAND TAKE FIRST BLOOD

First blood actually went to Auckland, as the Blues on 24 mins found their number 8 going over in the corner, despite a fantastic tackle at pace by Matt Robertson,23, at fullback , he was outnumbered by attackers.

AUCKLANDS KICKING MASTERCLASS

The Auckland try was followed up by a superb conversion from the touch line from the tightest of angles and in driving rain by the Auckland kicker – the oldest player on the pitch at 62. Well I say on the pitch, but he literally came on the pitch to kick like an NFL kicker and then back off to the dug out.

This Auckland silver fox could have made it in grid iron had he born the other side of the pond by the look of it. He would go onto not miss a single kick – all game.

The game then started to flow back and forth , with Guest seemingly defying gravity with airborne tackles.

Bricks tight head prop Chris then smashed through the Auckland D on a pure run of strength, bulldozing like a runaway Tonka toy – all 20 stone of his frame hurtling through their lines – only to be stopped within three-inches of the oppositions try line. Most of you players know and feel how agonisingly close that is – a small failure!

MORE TEE BISHOP

However, the Auckland D finally caved in, when on 34 mins Guest went over directly between the posts after phase after phase of Bricks forward play, to see Blaydon go level at 7 all … well you would have banked on it being 7 all but after a ‘dust up’ over a kicking tee Murray – whom up-to that point had been faultless -fluffed his kicking lines, putting the ball between the posts but unfortunately for the Bricks, below the bar. The Bricks trailing at the end of the second half,5 to 7.

Sadly the Bricks lost one their best players at half time as back-rower Todd retired broken with a shoulder injury.

This was a real shame as Cameron, Richardson, 22, Bricks bright young hooker, had been consistently finding Todd’s 6 feet five inches very useful in the line out, with pin point accurate throws, throws straighter than a Phil Taylor tungsten dart that had singled out the agile number 7.

SECOND HALF – A SECOND SUMMER OF LOVE

As the second-half neatly arrived so did a late Bricks player, as their legendary prop, Italian Mario Summer pulled up. Summer with his cascading mane of hair, a player who plays very much on the edge of brilliance or the bullet- with a disciplinary record which is just that – a record.

Auckland’s discipline was starting to let them down. Could Blaydon capitalise on this poor discipline; off-sides, high tackles and answering back and penalty count mounting by their mistimed high tackle were putting Auckland under pressure.

PENALTIES FLY

By the end of the game they would notch up a whopping nine penalties against Blaydon’s meagre two.

However, the first and only time that Blaydon capitalised on Auckland’s poor discipline was when Murray atoned for his earlier conversion failure to kick a penalty -straight on – but still probably a good 35m out. Giving the Bricks the slenderest of leads at 8 to 7. Should they have gone for goal more often?

The lead would sadly though for Bricks fans last two mins as on 55 mins – and in the move of the game – magic play by Aucklands star 18 year old centre – saw him put in a grubber, perfectly placed, destroying our back line for pace on this occasion and he chased through and after to score in the corner.

This saw the return of Aucklands silver fox and specialist kicker, with another incredible conversion to take the lead 14 to 8.

BLAYDON SPIRIT

One thing about this Bricks side which no one can deny is spirit. With players Craig Oliver, Robert Pyle, Matt Robertson; you can see that spirit in every position and corner of the pitch.

So when on 61 mins Kieran Sheen 29, came marauding through with his low centre of gravity perfectly timed run, after an equally great tackle breaking run by Blaydon Man of the Match and number 8 Paul Daglish, to score in the left corner it was no surprise.

BLAYDON BRILLIANCE

Sheen finished off the try with total brilliance, side stepping his way to points. A selectors mistake not starting him? A conversion would have seen Blaydon take the lead.

Unfortunately though, despite a good effort, Murray couldn’t convert from out wide. Although he had the distance the wind – which was starting to gust – got hold of the oval, taking it off course leading Blaydon trailing by one.

Blaydon 13 Bishop Auckland 14

Only great Blaydon D kept the visitors out with Dingley making a third try saving defensive last ditch race and toe poke grubber kick into touch.

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER

On 71 minutes Richardson had to leave the pitch through injury leading to the late arrival of Summer.

Summer certainly did arrive, with pushing & shoving breaking out within two mins over a spat when the opposition did not give the ball back quickly enough following another Auckland penalty, thus denying a quick tap-and-go.

This was followed up by a blistering line ran by Summer after some great work on the ground doing the dirty work nobody sees. He looked like he was heading to score – the only thing stopping him though was he failed to take the ball with him.

With the ball bouncing up into the arms of Auckland’s winger who ran it all the way back to score. This was followed up by the inevitable. A pinpoint conversion from Auckland’s specialist kicker – making it three touchline conversions to seal the victory 21 to 13.

GUESTY LEAVES NO ROOM FOR GUESS WORK

Captain Guest buoyed the team with an inspirational message as his defeated players circled around, locked arms and attitudes at the end of what was a very enjoyable and closely contested game.

He asked his team to reflect on the fact that with only an eight point deficit could his side have made better use of their penalty awards and conversions that they may just have walked away with a W.

But Whatever and Wherever you looked today, everyone was really a Winner as Winter felt like it had arrived today at Crowtrees… and with not a ‘petrol tanker’ in sight – there are not too many of those W’s in the World of Wrugby thankfully – please excuse the ‘cockney rhyming.

  1. Chris Davidson
  2. Cameron Richardson (Mario Summer)
  3. Kevin Lamb
  4. Liam Beck
  5. Stephen Kane
  6. Craig Oliver
  7. Mark Todd (Rob Pyle)
  8. Paul Daglish
  9. Thomas Reay
  10. James Murray
  11. Paul Dingley
  12. Lee Guest
  13. Peter Davidson (Mark Hopewell)
  14. Damien Shaw (Kieran Sheen)
  15. Matt Robertson
Bricks Rugby News

Saturday 11th January North Shields Crusaders 26, Blaydon Bricks 35

Bricks finally got back to league rugby and came up with a win. First of all, let’s start with an apology to North Shields, with injuries and unavailability we were unable to field a front row, which is a very strange position for Blaydon Bricks to be in, our strength is normally in its set piece. This had to be one of the youngest, most mobile Bricks team to ever take the field, so the uncontested scrums were certainly an advantage to the Bricks on the day, on the positive side, both sides got a game.

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313@N08/albums

League: http://northumberlandrugbyunion.com/clubs/county-leagues-and-merit-table-2019-20/river-blyth-league     not updated from December yet!

Great to see:

• Debut from Liam Hills coming through from the youth set up
• Michael Sturla guested for Bricks in the backrow
• Hopey has returned from Oz, with a head of hair that needs to be seen, see photos
• Steve Sewell making a return, for his first game of the season

Highs & Lows:
• The wind was a major factor and hampered any attempts at backs flowing rugby
• Bricks took a while to capitalise on the wind advantage in the 1st half, Crusaders knew exactly how to play in the 2nd half, down the hill, with the wind, kick it into the corner and being only a score down at half time must have thought the games was there for the taking.
• Justin and Paul (from his injury position) brought great focus to the team and galvanised it into a force that would have beaten most teams on the day!
• Our backrow; Michael, Steve and Justin were all over the park and didn’t let Crusaders have time to think
• Adam secured good lineout and with Matthew got around the park like a 2nd backrow.
• Great to see Liam make such a contribution in his first senior game, a lot more to come from this young lad.
• James ran the game from flyhalf and with the lines and power of Peter and Divers gave Crusaders a hard time all game.
• It wasn’t much of a day for wingers attacking play, given the wind, but in partnership with Matt our back 3 defended very well in the 2nd half against the numerous long kicks and ran it back to link up with the rest of the team.
• Nic showing us his thumb after the game and asking someone to pull, it….. played for some time with it and thanks to North Shields Physio for straightening it. All after I gave him so much sh1t about crying off a load in lats few games…. Team player! Well done.

Overall a great team display, although this was not a team used to playing together, they jelled quickly and ran the legs off the Crusaders, who lost the 2nd half with advantages of going down the hill and with a strong wind.

Scorers:
• Trys: Matthew J, Matt R, Divers, James & Justin
• Conv: James 5

Team:
1. Nic Eatch
2. Cameron Richardson
3. Liam Hills
4. Matthew Johnson
5. Adam Turnbull
6. Steve Sewell
7. Michael Sturla
8. Justin Clarke
9. Mark Hopewell
10. James Murray
11. Craig Oliver
12. Peter Bath
13. Phil Divers
14. Joel Atkin
15. Matt Robertson

Bricks Rugby News

Saturday 28th September – Blaydon Bricks 55 v Blyth IIs 19

 

Normal service resumed for the Bricks, thanks to a number of people:
• Chris Davidson was up home, so got his boots back out for Bricks game
• Cameron, recovered from damaging his arm, enough to turn out and play
• Joe Melia showed up with pies and donuts, no meringues, but next best things
• Craig Oliver managed to free himself
• Damien Martinez finally managed to play a Bricks game, each previous times selected he was pulled onto 2s/3s
So we turned out a side with some subs and were just about ready to take the field when:
• the Spartans (3s) realised the reason they couldn’t count to 15 wasn’t counting ability, but the fact they were short of a player….. so Andrew Strachan went off to play for the 3s.
• Blyth announced they only had 13 players, so Craig played one half and Joel the other and we played 14 a side.
• Thanks to Craig and Joel for playing for Blyth

Highs/Lows:
• Joel got his first try of his rugby career, shortly followed by his second, although he did seem t try to convince the referee that she shouldn’t give it… both well finished
• Our set piece was dominant, with Stu Bailey taking the lineouts and with afront row of Damien M, Joe Melia and Paul Winter starting, Blyth were in for a hard afternoon.
• In defence Joel decided to throw a ball to Justin, who was a few yards in front, but decided to catch it anyway
• The Blyth 8 must of thought he was in for a good afternoon, big lad with ball in hand, he went one way Strachs put him down, he went the other Justin put him down and then he took on our scrumhalf, who was Stu, so down he went again, he ran into Joe Melia and Keith Oliver came on the 2nd half and battered him as well, such was his afternoon to continue, eating grass.
• Chris D seem to love being back in a Blaydon shirt, storming around the pitch, making yards and hits.
• I (Bruce) forgot to take on the kicking tee again… eeeehhhh well, never mind!!!!
• James Miller played 10 and had a good game, then fell foul to one of the things his dad (Windy) always encouraged, in the 2nd half, once the backs drop the ball twice, the Bricks forwards don’t give it to them again…. Normally the scrumhalf just gives it to the backs anyway, but as it was a forward in that role, the backs opportunities were limited in the 2nd half unless they were supporting the marauding forwards in open play.
• With James moving to 10, Savs was free to roam from fullback, Blyth really didn’t know where he was going, or for that fact most of our team, they certainly couldn’t stop him.
• Damien & Peter control the midfield and Peter again ran through defenders
• David Reay ran in a good try and had a number of strong runs
• Justin was everywhere, Stu Bailey was hugging Blyth players, Paul Winter just went about his business ensuring Blyth always knew he was present.
• Damien M obviously didn’t put enough into his game, as he was in support to score the last try, well ahead of a number of the backs.
Well done to Blyth for coming with 13 to get a game, they never stopped chasing and competing and should have had a couple of more scores.
Next weekend is a Vets cup match on Friday night, so Bricks take a week off and return on the 12th against Houghton Boars, we’ll need a full squad for that game.

Not many photos I’m afraid, need a photographer ..Click here 

Scorers:
Trys: Joel 2, David Reay, Joe Melia 2, Savs 2, Craig Oliver, Damien Martinez
Con: Savs 5

Team:
1. Paul Winter
2. Joe Melia (Cameron Richardson)
3. Damien Martinez
4. Chris Davidson
5. Nic Eatch (Keith Oliver)
6.
7. Justin Clarke
8. Paul Strachan
9. Stu Bailey
10. James Miller
11. Joel Atkin (Craig Oliver)
12. Peter Andrew
13. Damien Ameer-Beg
14. David Reay
15. Savs

Saturday 14th Setember – Rockcliffe Rangers 33, Blaydon Bricks 17

Bricks Rugby News

We delayed the start of the Bricks season as we always seem to struggle to get people off the couch for the first game, as the week started, this looked a sound decision and things were looking promising, then it all went pear shaped:
• We lost 4 players to the 2s; Damien Martinez, Guesty, Stracks & Vinnie
• Rockcliffe put us on the geeeeet, geeeeet big AGP
• Our thanks to  Andy Turland & Windy for turning out (from early retirement) to help us get a team out
• Rockcliffe 2 V Alnwick 3s got cancelled – meaning no draw on Rangers players to play up

So, 13 valiant men went off to Rockcliffe, Rockcliffe kindly loaned us 3 players, I know 13+3 makes 16, but one of theirs who started for us got injured, our thanks to Rockcliffe and more importantly Alex Scott, David Graham & Dave Hill who played for us.

Highs & Highers:
• Many of the Bricks took knocks, loads were using cold spray and playing on.
• Andy Turland, came out of retirement to help the team, broke his arm, tried to play on and had to be escorted from the field, in the vein of the Monty Python knights sketch…
• Keith Oliver offered us 20 mins and played all four 20mins, as he would, and will no doubt not be able to walk properly for at least a week.
• Cameron stepped up and volunteer for hooker, but WBR decided the great big looking prop on the side-line, wasn’t right to prop that day and we played uncontested. Cameron put ball into lineout straight, but I’m sure Keith can coach that out of him!
• James Miller made his debut at scrum half and put himself about, playing with his dad (Windy) for the first time

• Paul Winter was everywhere and without doubt, (it’s written in the match report so is unquestionable) legally, spent time educating/persuading Rockcliffe players their constant stopping the ball coming back to us was, at least inconsiderate, bordering on just, well naughty!
• Divers and Savs had them mesmerised with lines of running, very few straight….
• Peter Andrew Bath battered through the centres making good yards, while Damien A-B in the centres made good yards avoiding contact.
• We thought we were in for a quiet-ish day with Guesty going with the 2s, but Joel stepped up, constantly talking, asking irrelevant questions, it was like having a mini-me Guesty. Joel, well done in your first full game of rugby and only 2nd game of rugby.
• Nic looked at the team sheet, did well for a southerner and counted to 13, realised it was going to be a long afternoon. He never faltered, played the 80 and left nothing out there, welcome to Bricks rugby Nic.
• Justin was like a man possessed, he was everywhere, tackles, turnovers, wrestling for the ball, annoying WBR and was deservingly our MoM

Windy walking one of the Rangers players to one side, after he tried to pull Jame’s head off was not discrete at all.

The only negative on the day (outside of the injuries) was I kept forgetting to take on the kicking tee, but that pitch was so big I was tired just running (well trotting) the water on…

With ball in hand Rockcliffe couldn’t handle the Bricks and if it wasn’t the first game of the season, with the mistakes that come with it, spilling possession, etc, if we’d lost 2 instead of 4 players, this could have been a win, Rangers were please to kick the ball off in the end to end the game.

Couldn’t be prouder of the team who took the field, Rockcliffe will have known they’d been in a game and would have been hurting Sunday from a very physical game.

Bruce

Scorers:
Trys: David Graham (WBR), Divers, Savs
Conv: Divers 1 – it surely would have been more with a kicking tee!

1. Paul Winter
2. Cameron Richardson
3. Keith Oliver
4. Nic Eatch
5. David Graham
6. Justin Clarke
7. Windy
8. Andy Turnalnd
9. James Miller
10. Savs
11. Joel Atkin
12. Damien Ameer-Beg
13. Peter Andrew Bath
14. Dave Hill / Alex Scott
15. Divers

Durham 4th Team County Shield Final – Blaydon Bricks beat Houghton Boars to retain 4th Team Shield

Durham 4th Team County Shield Final – Blaydon Bricks beat Houghton Boars to retain 4th Team Shield

In what was a close encounter, Boars were beaten in the end by:
• youth coming through the Blaydon system, with 3 under 19s in the squad
• the strength of the Bricks bench, selection policy based on number of games, where we have multiple options for positions, meant we had players on the bench as good as players on the field
With scores like 12-12 and 17-17 at half time, Bricks defence had to be on its best and it was, throughout the team.

At half time Bricks turned around and spirits were lifted, as we now had the advantages, we were now down the hill, with the wind, with the sun in the Boars eyes and we knew we had a strong bench, but we still had a fight on our hands. Couple subs at half time, 3 more 10 mins in and you started to see the bench doing the damage.

Cup finals are always hard, with such a large squad (Brick’s have used 64 players so far this season) who work shifts, have other commitments, yet naturally all plan to be available for this one game, inevitably some people miss out. So we’re putting this win down to all 64 players, who got us through the season, got us to joint 2nd in the Blyth South league and through the previous rounds.

I’m not going to name the starting 15 or the finishers (thanks Eddie for that term) who came on and finished this one, remember all the hard work of the starters, we are just going to celebrate being lucky to have such a strong squad and being the Durham 4th team shield winners again and hope it continues.

Playing 4 cup matches on the same day in previous rounds stretched Blaydon’s resources, we didn’t have 7 subs as we had this day in previous rounds and got through. We could have strengthened the squad, but that would have made selection even harder.

I will single out the 3 young lads:
• Adam Turnbull U18 2nd row, who watched us play early in the season with his dad playing until injured, turned 17, signed papers to play senior rugby and has been ever present since December and MoM in ¼ final against a strong Ryton side.
• Two U19s, who brought their own shirts, as Bricks shirts were too big for them, who had previously injected pace for us, having helped us win games like top of the table clash against Gateshead 3s:
o Jak Tuck, with our scrum half away in Manchester Jak started, his tackling, goal kicking and speed caused loads of problems for Boars
o Ollie Wiliams, last year I almost wore out our front rows in the final, with a shortage of ‘fresh’ subs, so we were determined to have prop and hooker fresh on the bench to cover and Ollie covered the bench as Hooker. Our other two hookers seem to have semi-retired and didn’t make themselves available. His tackling was immense, he got round the park as fast as our back rows and what was it like, having a hooker who could throw in straight…. Well actually can’t remember now and not worth getting used too, is it…..
Three really good players destined for higher teams, the future is bright for Blaydon looking at these guys.

As far as the game, there are loads of pictures, take a look, our scrum was great against a bigger pack, line out with Mark and Adam took all our ball, forwards took the ball on well, backs lines of running had Boars scrambling in defence and everyone tackled like the shield depended on it, which it did.

Great to see Robin in the club after the game, he has patched our side up many times, as physio to keep us on the pitch in all games including finals

Photos, thanks to Derek for photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313@N08/albums/

Talking to Marc , Houghton have a good Colts side this year and they will benefit from that injection next season, they will regroup and come back at us again next year.

So the season isn’t over, on 24th we have a hard game being a double header against Sunderland 2s on the AGP, which will finish our league off, assuming Gateshead win their remaining game they will take 1st place, but we will be very close if we can win that game and you never know, they may slip up!

A league and Cup double is still a possibility….

Scorers:
Trays: Toddy, Divers, Ollie 2, Matt G, Steve S ??  I missed a couple of try scorers
Conv: Jak 4+

Final score of 47-17 did not reflect how close this game was.

Saturday 23rd Feb. – Gateshead 3rds 3, Blaydon Bricks 21

Both sides had a sizable amount of youth in their sides with many Bricks not available following the bruising cup quarter final against Ryton 2s previous week. Gateshead had 3 games at home, so the game was played on a sizable pitch at Dryden School. Good to have a number of last seasons U18s on the pitch, to play a game with their coach Matt, it gave us a load of pace and ability, just as well given the size of pitch.

Scorers:
• Trys: Jak, Matt G & Rob Pyle
• Conv: Jak 3

 

Photos, thanks to Derek & Rob: 100 or so more online:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313@N08/albums/with/72157706895656514

Highs & Lows:
• Lewis and Jak gave Gateshead loads of headaches both in attack and defence
• As did Max, when Matt passed…… 😊
• Craig had a good few breaks from deep.
• We stole Rob P from the Development changing rooms when Jon C was lost chasing cows, him, Jake and Toddy were all over the park.
• Tom wanted me to mention his delicate pass to Matt G for his run in try, from half way… Shame it knacked his ribs and we had to take him off, next time Tom, no passing, Keith will tell you its dangerous and not encouraged in the cuddle club
• Think Paul was picking up daisies at one of the kick offs, certainly the ball went through his hands on the floor…
• And Keith must have knocked on, as well as being penalised many times for not straight
• Craig Y followed a kick, stopped Mick (Gateshead fullback) in his tracks and Savs ran in and stole the ball, unluck not to score
• Jon Curry showed up after chasing cows, owning up to hurting for days after last weeks game, but he was back for another game, once rugby gets you, there is no escape. Gateshead’s youngsters faces were a picture when he came off the bench.
• Gateshead never looked like scoring throughout the match, our defence was immense, but for a few wrong options we would have got max points from 5 trys and overtook Gateshead.
• Good to see Derek making a come back from injury

Nest week 2nd March Cup Semi-final Seaton Carew 2 at home

Team:

1 Paul Winter
2 Keith Winter
3 Tom Hirst
4 Matthew Johnson (Derek Turnbull)
5 Mark Todd (Jon Curry)
6 Jake Armstrong
7 Callum Gascoigne
8 Rob Pyle
9 Lewis Sinclair
10 Jak Tuck
11 Craig Youngmn
12 Matt Goodall
13 Max Nellis
14 David Reay
15 Savs

Bricks through to Durham 4th team Shield semi final on 2nd March

Match report by Criag Barlow…..

A game of 2 halves

The team were down on numbers due to fielding 4 teams for the cup games but the fight in all of the players made up for that.

Blaydon lost the toss and played up the hill in the first half. A tough first half but we knew what we needed to do – suck up the pressure, keep it tight, have a big defence, and don’t give too many penalties away.

Blaydon did most of that well, except for the penalties. Too many penalties from a whistle happy man in yellow had Blaydon pinned back in their 22, with strong winds stopping the ball getting cleared. What didn’t help was Keith Winter getting a 10 minute rest in the first half for failing to release the ball, which in his defence was hard due to a man in blue lying on top of him.

Half time, Ryton 12 Blaydon 0

Second half and Blaydon had all the advantages. Down the hill, wind with us, and sun behind our backs.
Game plan: ball in the corner, play the rest of the game in Ryton’s 22.

The forwards were dominating at every play. Stronger in the scrum, and stealing line outs for fun.
The backs did their part, strong running and great hands.

4 great tries in the 2nd half sealed the win for Blaydon, and we now move onto the semi final.

Full time, Ryton 12 Blaydon 24

Highlights:
– Injured and tired bodies all over the pitch but never stopped going
– Game plan worked perfectly
– Toddy and Steve S being extra versatile and playing in the forwards and backs
– Guesty announcing to everyone that we were a much better team with 14 players and we didn’t need Keith
– Well deserved Man of the Match to Adam Turnbull

– Keith’s regurgitation post the man of the match drinking race, sorry correction, Keith’s involvement was as ‘Dick of the day’…more hits than Brexit on Facebook

Tries: Divers, K Winter, Savs 2
Cons: Divers, Twinny

Team:
P Winter
K Winter
T Hirst
K Oliver
A Turnbull
S Bailey
C Harrison
M Todd
L Bradley
A Twinn
C Barlow
L Guest (S Palmer)
P Divers
S Sewell
A Savory
D Turnbull

 

Sat 12th January, Winlaton Saxons 17, Blaydon Bricks 55

 

Winlaton chose to play up the hill in the first half and were 3 scores down at half time. They always claim the hill is worth 12 points, so they we a little behind at turnaround, but the youngsters we unleashed in the second half, ran up the hill for fun and Bricks won both halves.

This was a double header league game, so good bag of points for Bricks to stop the downward slip in the league.

Highs & Lows:
• Lost a few players at last minute; Strachs to 2s, Arran to sickness and Jake just went AWOL
• Lewis, Charlie, Alex and Cam were late due to car trouble, so all 4 played the 2nd half, Sorry Saxons
• Lee was saving himself for his Ski holiday, sideline counted/announced 3 missed tackles, bar it was all about staying on his feet to cover outside men, ankle tapping props, just get down and get tangled in their legs.
• Hopey actually tackled well in the centres, Steve Sewell chopped people down
• Bricks forwards had the upper hand in scrum and line out with Adam jumping (Turnbull, not Knox)
• First half was a master class in forward play, Scott did some damage, Adam T was everywhere, Stu was back and played as an extra forward at 9

• Savs & Divers lines had Saxons asking, which way did he go

2nd Half
• Didn’t look good for Saxons, when shortly after the KO our backs ran the ball from just outside the 22 for Alex to score.
• Saxons 9 (Mick) was heard to say, I couldn’t catch him in my car’
• Charlie (9) Cam (12 and Alex (13) played first game for Bricks (had played 2s & Development) and fresh legs with that speed and ability cut Winlaton up, but as you’d expect Saxons heads didn’t go down.
• Dags had a good half at 8 and did the damage for Saxons later in 2nd half, but poor tackling from the Bricks didn’t help, not just Lee and Hopey wasn’t on!

Photos, thanks to Derek Turnbull, see them all via link: hhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/26086313@N08/albums/72157702653548832

Comments on 6 photos selected above:

  • Damien making new friend
  • Keith, what you doing right up there and passing…. For youngens to score
  • Caught on camera, one of Lee’s missed tackles
  • Divers taking Dags for a walk, also nice shot of Brick’s Tour socks on Charlie
  • Forwards looking relaxed, NOT

Lee looks like he’s reading the tackling manual

Scorers:
• Trys; Goggle, Adam T 2, Divers , Savs, Charlie, Alex 3
• Conv. Hopey 2, Lewis 3

Team:
1. Paul Winter
2. Keith Winter
3. Tom Hirst
4. Scott Kelly
5. Adam Knox (Adam Turnbull)
6. Steve Sewell
7. Adam Turnbull (Stu Bailey)
8. Harry
9. Stu Bailey (Charlie Mandley)
10. Savs (Lewis Hill)
11. Damien Shaw (Lee Guest)
12. Lee Guest (Cam Moore)
13. Hopey (Alex Young)
14. Craig Barlow
15. Phil Divers

Festive Rugby – Blaydon XV V Ryton XV – 1 win each

Overall score over the 2 legs was win to Blaydon 74 to 39, but great respect to Ryton who won the Boxing Day game and had a lot of good young talent on display, as well as turning up short for the 2nd leg, to make sure that game went ahead.

With a 3 day turn around, the sides in the games were always going to differ over the 2 games and with the depth of players we have at Blaydon, the 2nd game was always going to be a harder game for Ryton, great respect to them fielding 2 teams in 3 days.

Blaydon used 30 players over the 2 games.

Scrum gave Ryton loads of problems, which it was bound too, with Paul & Keith Winter and Tom Hirst in the front row, Ryton must dread seeing those guys come out onto the park. They must have had higher hopes when they saw Tom wasn’t on the pitch on the 29th, but Adam Keeler was, neither day was good for Ryton’s scrummage.

Blaydon Firsts have a critical game on the 5th January against Hull in top 3 clash, so none of the players in that squad were available, much to their disappointment, such is the thirst in the club to play this fixture.

See pictures below, but for the hats and the snow, identical…

 

Pictures from both games:

 

Boxing Day 2018 – Ryton XV 34 Blaydon XV 26

Photos, thanks to Billy Inglis
https://www.facebook.com/1835450646/posts/10210852178700592/

This game had everything; a nice sunny day, a large crowd supporting both sides, two evenly matched sides and two referees who were determine to keep it that way…

 

Blaydon started and finished the strongest, with a 14 point lead with try’s from Dan Turland and Lewis, both converted by Lewis in first half. We could and should have had more trys before halftime, but for various reasons, that was the score as we changed ends. We then had a disastrous 20 minutes at the start of the 2nd half, Ryton were playing down the hill now and with fresh legs in the pack started to break through tackles and managed to starve Blaydon of ball. What little ball we got was kicked away, one such kick resulted in the young Ryton fullback running in from half way.

Highs & Lows:

  •  Good to see Jack Inglis and Lewis Hill back playing in Blaydon shirts
  •  The Winters were doing festive juggling and dropping, nothing new there…
  •  Scrum gave Ryton loads of problems, which it was bound too, with Paul & Keith Winter and Tom Hirst in the front row
  • First half forwards dominated and made good yards, but struggled a little when Ryton brought on fresh legs for the 2nd half
  • Jack, Ewan and Jake were all round the park
  • Jak Tuck had a good game at 9, with good distribution
  • Lewis and Dan made big yards when in possession
  • James ran us out of trouble from the back

Scorers:
• Trys; Dan, Lewis, Jack Inglis, Rodders
• Conv. Lewis – 3off

Team:
1. Paul Winter
2. Keith Winter
3. Tom Hirst
4. Jack Inglis
5. Ewan Lowry    (Steve Palmer )
6. Harry                (Ewan Lowry)
7. Jake Armstrong
8. Paul Strachan
9. Jak Tuck
10. Lewis Hill
11. David Reay       (Paul Dingley)
12. Lee Guest          (Phil Rayson)
13. Dan Turland     (Peter Andrew Bath)
14. Hopey                (James Murray)
15. James Murray  (Rodders)

 

2nd Leg – Blaydon XV 48 Vs Ryton XV 5

Photos, thanks to Billy Inglis
https://www.facebook.com/1835450646/posts/10210861934544482/

 

Highs & Lows:

  •  Excuse me, I have to believe this game was played by aliens, this double of Keith Winter in photos is shaped in what looks like a passing position, that surely didn’t happen
  •  Not sure how long have I been away, thoughts I was there Boxing day but this report in rugby has to be the equivalent of walking into the starwars bar – Can’t really believe what you are seeing …..

• See photos:

  •  Not being there I had to consult Keith, who confirmed my thoughts from the photos, that James thought he’d scored a try over the 22, although Keith remembered it may have been the halfway, it’s in colour take a look.
  •  Adam Keeler takes on Ryton pack, it wasn’t fair… try
  •  There is not a lot of conviction in scrumhalfs eyes on talking Sean on the hoof
  •  James shows a number of cleans sets of heels…
  •  Keith too hung over to run, he passed.
  •  Matt Thompson as flyhalf running with the ball perfectly held (NOT) to release the backs or bring in the forwards on the inside. He may have scored, but let’s not let the truth get involved/in the way of a match report…. Never have before!
  • Look Andy giving a penalty to Blaydon, M.J. take note on how to do that….

 

  •  Ewan Lowry, Paul Strachan and Adam Turnbull scored conversions – what was the selection for kicking, furthest away from the try scored?
  •  James Murray didn’t get the jug in for scoring 3 trys…. Judge Paul Winter to deal with this at next Court session…..

Some input from those attending:

  •  Lewis Hill scored Sean Pyle missed the kick
  •  Someone else scored, Sean Pyle missed the kick
  •  Hopey knocked on
  • Someone else scored, Sean Pyle missed the kick
  • Hopey thought he would enter into festive spirit and change the rules to match NFL and threw a few forward passes
  •  Someone else scored, Sean Pyle missed the kick

***Half Time ***

  •  Harry split Strachs head open and Windy played Nurses. Strachs splitting his head because it’s as soft as a peach
  •  Matt Thompson played 10 and refused to pass to anyone within 10m, opting for a “Miss 3” every time
  •  Ewan scored from Lewis Hill’s crossfield kick, Matt missed the conversion
  •  Paul Winter started a fight with the Ryton 8, Owen Reed jumped on his back and tried to drag him to the ground by his beard, then wanted to chin him
  •  Someone scored and Strachs slotted the conversion.

 

Scorers:
• Trys; So suspected scorers:
o James Murray 3
o Adam Keeler 1
o Ewan Lowry 1
o Ewan Pritchard 1
o Lewis Hill 1
o Matt Thompson 1

• Conv.
o We must have started with someone sensible, surely ???
o Sean – missed a boat load
o Matt missed one at least
o Adam Turnbull 1
o Paul Starchan 1
o Ewan Lowry 1

.

Team:
First half:
1 Paul Winter
2 Keith Winter
3 Adam Keeler
4 Steve Sewell
5. Paul Strachan
6 Ewan Lowry
7. Cameron Richardson
8 Harry
9 Owen Reed
10 James Murray
11 Ewan Prichard.
12 Lewis Hill
13 Sean Pyle
14 Peter Andrew Bath
15 Hopey

Second half

Team:
1 Paul Winter
2 Keith Winter
3 Steve Palmer
4 Steve Sewell
5. Adam Turnbull
6 Ewan Lowry
7.Jake Armstrong
8 Stu Bailey
9 Owen Reed
10 Matt Thompson
11 Ewan Prichard
12 Lewis Hill
13 James Murray
14 James Toward Adams
15 Hopey