The first half was very even with neither side able to pull clear but after a few wise words at half time from Head Coach John Fieldhouse Rovers came out strongly in the second half and produced some scintillating Rugby as they pulled clear of the Storm to register a convincing win.

Gateshead opened the scoring in the fifth minute when a kick into the in-goal area from scrum half Chris Parker Jnr on the last tackle was missed by the Rovers defence and winger Sam Jones pounced to score in the left corner. Parker Jnr converted from the touchline but twelve minutes later Rovers responded when a few back-to-back penalties put them deep into the Storm half and hooker Ryan Brown forced his way over from dummy half to score at the left of the posts. Glyn Roberts added the conversion to level matters.

Rovers moved ahead for the first time on twenty five minutes when from a scrum on the Storm ten metre line stand off Theo Holt found scrum half Conner Muir an his slick pass was collected by Roberts who stepped round the defence to score a fine try at the right of the posts. He converted his own try but four minutes later he was sin binned for a professional foul after holding down Gateshead winger Leuan Bodman following an eighty metre break and from the resulting penalty centre Michael Mitchell stretched over to score in the right corner. Parker Jnr again added a difficult conversion to make the half time score 12-12.

Three minutes into the second half Rovers moved back in front when a lovely ball from Brown sent Holt through a gap and he rounded the cover to score wide out on the right and eight minutes later a high kick on the last tackle by Holt saw winger Luke Walker out jump his opposite number to catch the ball superbly and ground the ball in the right corner. Roberts added a fine conversion.

Gateshead were then penalised for being offside at the restart and from the resulting penalty Rovers moved downfield and prop forward Dan Fearnley stretched over with three men in attendance. Roberts converted and just before the hour mark a kick by Storm on the last tackle was collected in his own in-goal area by Walker and he managed to evade two attempted tacklers before weaving his way through the line and he raced 100 metres down the right wing to score a superb try under the posts. Roberts added the conversion.

Rovers moved further clear when they had a scrum on their own forty metre line and from it the ball reached Roberts who spotted a gap and went sixty metres to score under the posts. He converted once again but then Rovers had loose forward Harry Files yellow carded for interference at the play the ball and from the penalty Parker Jnr broke through to score on the right. He added the conversion before Rovers had substitute Christian Taylor dismissed for ‘alleged’ punching but it had no impact on the final score as Rovers ran out worthy 40-18 victors.

The Man of the Match was awarded to Rovers prop forward Dan Fearnley. He was very well supported by hooker Ryan Brown, winger Luke Walker, stand off Theo Holt and loose forward Harry Files.

After the game Rovers Head Coach John Fieldhouse said, “Following a pre-match talk on Sports Psychology some of our guys didn’t seem to understand the point of the exercise as our first half performance was very average with a completion rate of only 44%; the only plus in that first forty minutes was our scrambling defence that allowed us to keep the half time score to 12-12. We had a chat at the break and got back to our gameplan in the second half and pulled clear scoring some great tries, including a length of the field stunner from Luke Walker. Gateshead are a much improved side and deserve great credit for the part they played in the game but our quality told and we got a much needed win.”

ROVERS

Glyn Roberts, Luke Walker, Justin Becker, Troy Brophy, Alex Dunne, Theo Holt, Conner Muir, Dan Fearnley, Ryan Brown, Ryan Hickman, Scott Whiteley, Sean Conway, Harry Files.

Subs: Aaron Barber, Christian Taylor, Danny Griffiths, Jack Sherratt.