Today Berwick made the trip down the a1 to Morpeth to play in a friendly fixture. We arrived in plenty time but unfortunately the ref didn't (who was the only one with the keys) so neither team could get into the changing rooms. This delayed kick off by half an hour.

Berwick started the game going down hill with the wind advantage. From the start you could see Berwick was still at home, maybe this was because of the big loss we suffered last year in the cup or we just hadn't woken up yet.

Clever play from the Morpeth 10 with a couple of kicks led to confusing in the Berwick defensive line and we conceded a try early on. Conversion missed.

Not too long after that try Morpeth was back in our half and scored again out wide which this time was converted. Berwick started to play a little now but a couple of unforced errors allowed Morpeth to get the ball back and another kick in behind from the 10 allowed Morpeth to score. Conversion missed.

Again handling errors and a poor defensive line let Morpeth score out wide. Conversion missed.

Berwick started to waken up after 20 minutes and used the ball more, good hard running by the forwards and boys supporting meant Morpeth started to concede penalties. A good kick to the corner by James Newton allowed the forwards to use their driving maul, Cory Carson broke off the maul and got tackled short. Berwick created fast ball and Stuart Johnson crashed over for a well worked try. Converted by Newton.

Berwick started to believe and not so long after went through their forwards again, a good line break from Ethan Stewart put Morpeth on the back foot. Unfortunately when tackled he knocked the ball on. Morpeth struggled to clear the line due to a good defensive set from Berwick and when the ball was eventually kicked clear Duncan Horsburgh attempted to catch the ball but dropped it. Morpeth stopped expecting a knock on but the ref didn't see it that way. Horsburgh picked the ball up and waltzed through the defence to score under the posts. Converted by Newton.
Berwick had the last play of the half when Morpeth gave away another penalty in front of the posts and Newton converted.

HT 22-17

Start of the 2nd half changes were made and Morpeth scored 2 try's in quick succession all from kicks in behind. Both converted.

Berwick had chances but unfortunately couldn't finish them off. Morpeth then went on to score a further 3 try's 1 converted.

The ref had his moment in the limelight getting everyone in for a Nigel Owens esk talk. All credit to him for reffing the game after a heavy night last night.

Berwick finished the game strong but again couldn't get the final pass or get over the line.

FT 49-17

Massive improvement compared to last years game, boys stuck in and if they start with the belief they can do well they could improve a lot more. Plenty still to work on at training the next couple weeks before our next game.

Managing to field 20 boys with 1 call off and 1 no show this morning and a couple unavailable for today's game. Hopefully everyone can get to training this week so we can work on things as a team.