Match reports and results

Guisborough 2nds 34 Barnard Castle 2nds 10

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:24:27 +0100

Barnie seconds got another run out, travelling to a very strong Guisborough unit albeit with only fourteen players after several last minute drop-outs which was disappointing. Nonetheless it was great to see Robin Collard back after a long absence through injury and also Des Anstey after a travel break. There were also two debutantes in the side both excelling on their introduction to the Castle team. Prop Karl Ryecroft back into competitive rugby after a seven year absence was a real plus for the side and fly-half Dave Easton was also a star act, controlling the game well and scoring Castle’s only try on his first run-out; Robin Collard converting and putting over an excellent penalty too.

Other eye-catching moments were a great run from centre Andrew Hedley which was unselfishly popped back inside as the try-line loomed but unfortunately spilled by the superb supporting flanker Will Ford. Jamie Kelly also had a very good game at fullback. Despite receiving a nasty mouth injury in the first half he rode the pain barrier and pulled off a fine try-saving tackle in the second half. Despite all their efforts, Guisborough whose first team are unbeaten this season were too much for Castle seconds who struggled to cope with the cutting edge of the home team out wide.

This Saturday sees the side away to Houghton-Le-Spring seconds in a merit table game. If the team can put out a similar side and get some real continuity, there is every chance that this side can get their first win for a while.

Yarm 13 Barnard Castle 6

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:22:29 +0100

After the superb win against the same opposition last week it was always going to be a challenge to see if the momentum could be maintained on away soil.

Yarm had made two significant changes to their side. They fielded a far more experienced scrum-half who made a number of breaks in the first period that kept Castle pinned down their end. They had also put in a new outside centre which turned what had been a useful outfit the week before into a far more competitive side. As the scoreline shows there was not much in it but Yarm deserved the win scoring both the games only tries.

After the warm weather during the week, Castle arrived expecting a firm pitch but the surface was dreadful to run on, sugary soft and easily churned up although never boggy; it was really weird to play on. After twenty minutes of the game there was no score and the play had ebbed and flowed up and down the pitch without any side gaining any real advantage. Barnie had started leaking penalties though and after a kick to the corner and some intense pressure on the Castle line, the scrum-half nearly broke through between the Castle posts and when held up the ball was shipped out quickly to the winger who just squeezed over in the corner. Castle replied within minutes with a penalty slotted over by Kirk Thompson who added another from three further attempts to sneak into the lead 5-6 before the Yarm forwards managed to barge over in the corner after a catch and drive from the lineout.

At 10-6 down at the break, Castle knew they needed to drive up the middle of the park first before sending it out wide but seemed unable to muster the necessary control they had achieved the week before. Yarm were unlucky not to be awarded a further try when the referee ruled a pass as forward which was probably not but they did squeeze over a penalty soon after to extend the lead. The last quarter of the game was probably Barnie’s best and the forwards did turn the screw but were unable to turn the pressure into points and although penalty chances came late on with time running out and needing seven points to draw level, Barnie were adventurous enough to run their penalties or kick for the corner. However the Yarm defence stood firm and were worth their advantage at the end of the game.

This Saturday Castle travel to Newcastle to take on Medicals.

Barnard Castle 31 Yarm 12

Sat, 3 Apr 2010 21:10:15 +0100

Castle played their best rugby of the season against a strong Yarm side who have recently brought in some strong new players in an effort to save themselves from the threat of relegation. They arrived in Barnard Castle having thumped N Shields 48-12 three weeks ago and followed this up by turning over 3rd placed Seaton Carew in their own backyard 3-20.
They certainly looked the part; arriving earlier than the home players and warming up before the Barnie players had even arrived down on their own pitches.

After something of a deluge about an hour before kick-off the pitch was very greasy; not usually conducive to Castle’s preferred open style of play. There were also one or two disruptive changes to the Castle personnel that saw Mark McEvoy come in at short notice for Paul Davis in the centre and Adam Firmin who moved in from wing to fly-half for Kirk Thompson. Now ‘Makka’ has not played competitively for a number of months due to a serious hand injury but you would not have known from the way he started the game. From the Yarm kick-off the Castle forwards collected the ball and had a number of forward drives up the pitch to get into the opposition half. A slick ball to Makka at inside centre saw him immediately punch a hole in the Yarm defence. When held the ball was efficiently recycled by the forwards through three further phases before sending it down the back line again. This time Richard Hughes at outside centre made the hard yards before slipping the ball out to Craig Dominick out wide who beat his opposite number on the outside and swallow-dived over in the corner.

Stung by the score Yarm showed they too could pick and drive and were soon up in the squidgy stuff in the top left hand corner of the pitch. Although the Castle defence was immense, Yarm eventually drove through from short range for a converted try that allowed them to think they were back in the game at 5-7. However within minutes after great drives from both flankers Andrew Eggs Clement and James Harrison (who had his best game of the season), fed the ball on the opposition twenty-two metre line fly-half Firmin dummied to pass down the line, stepped inside his man and realising there was a gap proceeded to canter through a flat-footed defence. With the conversion going over too, Castle re-established superiority that they never let slip. Yarm fought hard, but time and time again it was the Castle forwards who took the ball on and made good yards before giving the backs a chance to try and find gaps in the Yarm ranks. The eager crowd had to wait though until five minutes before half time for the next try to arrive. For the seventh time in four games it went to winger Paul Fenwick in his own trademark style. As so many times this season he gathered the ball in a tight situation, looked to have a run into a marauding horde of defenders and somehow waltzed his way through the lot of them to score under the posts to the stunned gaze of the visitors.

At 19-7 up at the break but now playing up the slope, there was a concern that the Barnie game would go off the boil and that the tide would turn. This fear was worsened when a number of stupidly conceded penalties allowed Yarm within scoring range and their centre managed to break through after a spell of sustained pressure on the Castle line. Some nerves on the touch-line were jangling at 19-12 but Barnie soon upped their game again and with Eggs and prop Sean Banner at the heart of the all that was good, most of the remainder of the game was played in the Yarm half. Yarm had to defend tigerishly and certainly kept the score to manageable proportions but eventually the scores came. After the Yarm line had been besieged for a continuous ten minute period and time after time, Barnie forwards were falling agonisingly short or spilt the ball in the tackle, a drive on by scrum-half Liam Smart saw him lay the ball back to number eight Adam Haynes who had sufficient beef to pick and drive the extra five metres (another one scoring his first ever first team try this season!). Although the conversion hit the post, at 24-12 the safety margin had been gained and Yarm in an effort to play Barbarian–style rugby to close the gap made a complete mess of a quick lineout and Firmin was the lucky recipient capitalising on the spilt ball and then outsprinting the cover defence for a further score with ten minutes left. Although Yarm raised a spirited final flourish, the Castle defence were irresolute and they left the pitch with a real spring in their step after a really excellent performance. Somewhat bizarrely this Saturday the sides meet again in the reverse fixture over at Yarm; a result of the vagaries of an earlier postponed game due to the winter weather. Castle will be looking forward to it.

Barnard Castle 35 North Shields 10

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:35:17 +0000

After some of the frustrations of last week when Barnie won comfortably enough but squandered far too many scoring opportunities, this was a superb performance, the side playing some of their best rugby of the season in the second half.

N Shields turned up looking eager enough and with a couple of massive bean-pole lineout jumpers that indicated that the Castle pack would have their work cut-out. The weather conditions looked to be in favour of the visitors too, with a steady rain falling heavily enough to make ball handling difficult.

Barnie started well enough and were soon camped in the Shields half and able to try out some of their backs moves. The first one was meant to go to Paul Fenwick coming in off the left wing but broke down in midfield and the Shields defence hacked it clear. Minutes later a similar missed move in the centres had the same result and this time the Shields fly-kick up the field skidded off the turf as first Kirk Thompson and then Fenwick tried to fall on the ball and make safe. The Shields players following up, gathered up the plunder and strolled over for a shock 0-5 lead.
Castle held their nerve, worked their way back up the park, maintained the territorial advantage but struggled to get through the Shields defence which was up in their faces quickly and was well-organised.

On the half hour mark, after a number of drives toward the visitor’s twenty two metre line, fly-half and skipper Kirk Thompson, switched play up the blind side and drew the cover tackler before sending a pass out to Fenwick. Although he had to beat both his opposite winger and a last ditch cover tackle from the full-back he jinked his way over to dive over in the corner.

There was not much else to report in the first half, Castle maintaining a territorial advantage and having plenty of possession but continually kept out by good Shields defence.

In half time discussions, it was agreed that the forwards should take the ball on more themselves to suck in the Shields defence and within minutes of the kick-off, in a desperate effort to keep Castle out, Shields infringed and Thompson slotted over a penalty. Castle never looked back from this point. Other than in the lineouts where Shields had a height advantage which they used to good effect they were outplayed in all aspects of the game. Time after time, the Castle forwards secured the ball and took it on through two, three, four phases before Liam Smart released quick ball to Thompson. The back-line were then able to make the most of the extra space, capitalising on tackle-weary defenders now lacking the back row support which had been sucked into the breakdown. Centre Craig Dominick soon broke through in mid-field for the second try under the posts.

The third try was an eye-catching individual effort. Paul Fenwick reminds me a bit of the old loony tunes “Road Runner”. One minute he’s there, the next its thin air. Think of a defender as Wiley Coyote grasping that thin air, multiply the scenario six-fold and you’ve got a fair picture of Paul’s second try as he sidestepped his way through half the Shields side.

As the game entered the final quarter, Shields suddenly looked overwhelmed. Thompson was now chipping for the corners and on the third occasion, the fullback was tackled by Dominick and the ball popped out invitingly for winger Andrew Stubbs to pick up and score his first try at first team level. Next on the scoresheet was flanker Andrew ‘Eggs’ Clement capping a great personal display by driving through the tacklers from fifteen metres out. Credit must be given to Shields who despite being almost completely outplayed never threw in the towel and managed a score from a lineout drive on the final whistle.

This game was a great warm-up for the relished visit to local rivals Bishop Auckland on Saturday and the team must now show that they can re-create this type of form on someone else’s turf. Hopefully this will also enable them to climb up the league table in the last month of the season.

To conclude the club would like to note their thanks to Martin Pepper from Barnard Castle School for his assistance with coaching last week. We would also like to express our gratitude to our match sponsor A Jenkins, Montalbo Décor Centre for his generous continued support of the club.

Yarm 2nds 22 Barnard Castle 2nds 12

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:42:33 +0000

In a really close game on a poor quality pitch, Castle were just shaded out in the second half as their back-line was disrupted through injury, both centres having to leave the field. After the shock of going-down to an early drop goal, Castle bounced back with a brace of interception tries for club new boy Ian Spence who looks to be a real find.

Leading 12-3 at the break but now playing up the slope, gradually Yarm overhauled this young Castle side even though it remained competitive throughout. Ian Strong played particularly well in the second half and Simon Coverdale with Ben Gray did some excellent work as emergency midfield cover.

This Saturday sees the Barnie seconds up at Washington, aiming to consolidate the recent significant improvements to the side.