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Blaydon RFC vs Stew
Mel, 13/8/05
Riggers'
Review
A 35 man party set off on Saturday morning
to reestablish a long standing fixture between the two clubs.
Al Napier, our esteemed ex-President, reckons he probably
played in the last game for Stewart's FP at Blaydon. We
travelled down courtesy of Virgin
Trains, and the boys seemed to enjoy travelling in relative
luxury compared to a cramped coach.
The starting XV for the game was:
Richard Borthwick, Zane Gardiner, Andrew Easson,
David Warwick, Jed Gordon, Graham Shiel, Euan Clark, Andrew
Statham, Shaun McMurchy, Stephan De Beer, Alex Clarke, Stephen
Dalgleish, Scott Riddell, Richard Vernon & Phil Hendry.
On the bench were: Roddy Leslie, Ross Samson,
Colin Goudie, Neil Malloy, Mark Peace, James Constable,
Scott Brewster & Neil Statham.
Paul Wharakura, Graham Lind, Struan Samson
and Sam Hendry also travelled, and did some fitness work
prior to the game with Graham Ellis. All four should come
into contention for the game against Edinburgh Accies this
Saturday.
Not available for the trip: Ross Rennie, David
McCall, Craig Joiner, Gareth Flockhart, Ben Leathes, Kevin
Stuart, Gavin Sharp, Matt Redstone, Peter McLean & David
Sutherland.
The game started in glorious sunshine in Newcastle, and,
after soaking up some early pressure, Borth was put into
space from a move from a scrum. Looking sharp and strong,
he beat the first defender before cutting inside the fullback
to score underneath the posts. Borth converted his own try
to give us a 7-0 lead. The Blaydon team based their tactics
around bringing their big Tongan centre in off their stand
off, running as hard as he could. Strong defence and excellent
communication thwarted attack after attack, but we were
under some real pressure.
After defending solidly for five minutes, the quality of
our defence showed, forcing the Blaydon backs into an error.
Borth managed to get a boot to the loose ball in our 22,
and, by the time it bounced up into his hands 10 metres
later, he was in the clear, and, before long, he was once
again under the posts. Again he converted and we were up
14-0.
The rest of the half had us on the attack,
and the lead should have been increased before half time,
but the ball failed to come out quickly enough from rucks
for us to take advantage.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half, the game was
played in a torrential downpour which ruined the whole match
as a spectacle. Blaydon were now intent on kicking into
the corners and letting their heavier pack take control.
A couple of soft tries were conceded in this period, and,
at 14-12, the game was becoming an absorbing contest.
As the conditions dried up, we started to
assert ourselves, and, with a team on the pitch which had
Stephan De Beer as its eldest player at 25 and Ross Samson,
at 17, the youngest, we fought back. Good handling saw the
Dundee HS connection of Colin Goudie and Roddy Leslie put
Richie Vernon over in the corner for the winning score.
Borth missed the wide conversion.
The game finished with us, once again, on
the attack, but no further scoring. A tough trip and a tough
game in difficult conditions has given the coaches much
to ponder for the weeks ahead. A 20 man squad will be selected
for the Edinburgh Accies game on Saturday, whilst the 2nd
XV travel to Lasswade to play in their 15-a-side tournament.
Riggers
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