Barnard Castle 1st XV Match report
Barnard Castle 1st XV Match report
Barnard Castle 26 Seaton Carew 12
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Castle played host to Seaton Carew last Saturday. The opposition were hovering just below mid-table but had only suffered narrow defeats in most of their games to date. This was to be no different.
On a dreary, mizzly sort of day with the ball greasy to handle, Castle stuttered badly early on. Carew had the lion’s share of both the territory and possession, their set scrummage and lineout working well.
Castle although competing well in some areas seemed to be losing out at breakdown whenever there was a 50-50 ball. However they did look like they had a more incisive cutting edge when good quality ball was delivered down the backline. Carew’s enthusiasm at the breakdown sometimes backfired too they were regularly penalised for going over the top and failing to stay on their feet. In their own half this was a risky business as flyhalf Kirk Thompson had at last found his special kicking boots lurking in some dusty corner of a forgotten wardrobe. Thus, somewhat against the run of play, Castle found themselves 3-0 to the good before, in an incident remarkably similar to the previous home game, the ball shot out of the far side of Castle’s own scrum and the Carew backrow capitalised gathering the ball, breaking quickly and finding a gap to stun the home supporters with a score between the posts.
Soon things got worse as Castle were reduced to fourteen men when Paul Fenwick tackled his opposite winger high saving an otherwise certain try. The referee however collared the wrong man, Craig Dominick deemed to be the culprit by the referee ended up doing the porridge behind the posts on behalf of his mate.
Barnie seemed to wake up at this point and further pressure saw Fenwick nearly break through before another penalty was slotted over to leave the game delicately poised at 6-7 at the interval.
Coach Luke Monument had some stern words during the pause and Castle were soon into their stride in the second half but were to suffer some early frustration as good scoring chances went begging. Firstly, flanker Andrew Eggs Clement having another wonderful game rampaged down the left wing and his scoring pass to lock Richard Dodds was adjudged just slightly forward Then, after Kirk had edged the side ahead 9-7, down the same wing a similar break by Dominick led to a dropped scoring pass by Fenwick.
Prop Richard Welsby enjoying the soggier conditions had a little purple patch taking great lineout ball at the back and then catching a kick and making some good yards before being held.
As the game entered its final quarter, the pressure continued to ratchet up and eventually told when winger Andrew Stubbs not long on the pitch, broke strongly down the right flank from within his own half. As the Carew cover tackle came in on the twenty-two metre line he got a nice inside pass away and Craig Dominick was the recipient to secure his seventh try in three games. Not long after Kirk slotted over his fourth penalty goal as yet again Carew lost discipline in front of their posts and suddenly were 19-7 down.
Undeterred they came back almost immediately as Barnie were again hit by a sucker punch this time off the back of a lineout when their big flanker collected and broke through some slack tackling. At 19-12 Carew must have thought they were still in with a shout but almost immediately were made to think otherwise.
Kirk Thompson anxious to play down in the Carew half, dinked a nicely lofted kick into their twenty two. Dominick following up, held the fullback as he struggled to his feet and the Castle backrow were almost immediately on hand to pressurise the scrum-half as he tried to get his kick away. It lacked any distance and Adam Bellwood was able to collect and feed the ball to skipper Ian Hanvey, coming on at full throttle. He expertly drew the defender before passing outside to Paul Fenwick who this time made no mistake and rounded the final man expertly. At 26-12 the victory was deserved but perhaps flattered Castle slightly on this occasion. Carew lacked much cutting edge outside but were a cohesive unit that will cause problems to other sides. Their worst problem was their discipline with no less than three yellow cards being shown to their players and in truth there could have been more.
This result sees Castle firmly ensconced now in third place in the league table with only one more fixture (in a fortnight’s time at Whitley Bay) before reaching the halfway point and the start of the return legs.
The club is highly appreciative of the match day sponsorship from Gill and Partners, Independent Financial Advisors.