George Hewitt has yet to see a Rovers team lose this season - shall we tell him it isnt always like this? The lads are glad of his guidance and support though.

Rovers Heughers travelled to Tees Valley Merit League leaders Acklam Talbots. After a couple of soaking days rain it was a bit surprising we were on their bottom pitch but it was perfectly playable.

Rovers started off well despite playing up the slight bank and into the wind. The pattern of the game seemed to be that Rovers profited from driving through the forwards whereas Acklam looked more threatening in the backs. Indeed Acklam took the lead with a nice move where they opened up our defence on the halfway line and ran in a fine try. With the conversion they were 7-0 ahead. Rovers came back and again our pack made ground which led to Tony Ross driving over for a try that Daz added the extras to which enabled us to bring the score back level at 7-7. Once more though Acklam ran in a try where their stand off dummied and ran through with barely a hand laid on him. A good touchline conversion put Acklam back in front at 14-7. Rovers looked like they were going to score after fierce driving to line but were thwarted when an Acklam player flopped over the ball. To add insult to injury the ref then awarded a penalty against our pack for 'encouraging' him to move with what looked like perfectly legimate rucking. Connor White took a bit of a blow and went onto the sidelines being replaced at wing forward (openside) by The Pace. On the stroke of half time Daz was just short with a penalty kick

HT Acklam Talbots 14 - 7 Rovers Heughers

At half time Chris Sewell came off having shot his bolt. Not surprising really given he had not long been at home following an overnight flight from Benidorm after a week drinking and, apparently, listening to other people having a better time than him. Chris was replaced by AJ who had just got back from Bristol and their lass must have been delighted that he then buggered straight off out again. The Pace soon made his presence felt when he pounced on a loose ball that shot out of a 5 metre scrum on the Acklam line and scored a try. Unfortunately in the act of scoring the Pace collided with their winger and both sustained cut heads. Connor White returned to the field. With the benefit of the wind and slope should have been pinning Acklam down in their corner but rarely managed to do so. Nevertheless we did take the lead when Daz put over a good penalty given against Acklam for offside. 15-14 to us and we led for the first time. We then kept Acklam in their own half for nearly all the rest of the game and while it was a slender lead it didn't look like we would lose it when the ref called last play at a lineout on the Acklam 10 metre line. However it seemed that between us and the ref we were determined to give Acklam a chance. A succession of penalties exacerbated by some back chat which moved us 10 yards closer to the posts gave Acklam the chance of a kick at goal. Their kicker had put over 2 excellent conversions earlier but thankfully for us this one drifted wide.

FT Acklam Talbots 14 - 15 Rovers Heughers

We really should have been out of sight here and had we lost it would have been a bitter pill to swallow. We gave away too many penalties through indiscipline and on another occasion that will cost us the game. We had a dominant pack with Tony Ross and Billy Lloyd being perhaps the most dynamic but were well supported by the rest of the forwards. We also ruled the lineout with Danny Baxter, Mick Ryan and Connor White being a constant source of possession. In the backs we missed a couple of tackles in the first half but tightened up in the second period.

Squad
Rochester, Addison, S Railton, Sewell, Reay, Daz, Milky, L Clayton, Ross, Carroll, Lloyd, Baxter(c), Ryan, Lane, White, Hewitt, AJ, Healey