Westoe finish off ‘Try January’ in style

Second Half Determination wins Uphill Battle

South Shields Westoe travelled to Barnard Castle for what has traditionally been a tough encounter. Despite late changes to the side, Westoe travelled with a strong and dangerous outfit, including a powerful bench to boot.

From the first whistle Westoe looked confident and controlled playing down the steep hill (even surpassing the Wood Terrace slope) and full of confidence after consecutive victories.

A stolen line-out was driven close by Raymie Elliott and Andrew Kirton, and a quick pass allowed winger, Paul Evans to split the defence apart and gain the yardage. Quick recycling left the home side defence back-pedalling when Sam Gaff took an intelligent line through traffic to score after only three minutes. 0-7

Westoe struck again immediately from the restart, clean ball was spun to Jake Arnold who wrong-stepped Castle’s winger and sped around the remaining cover defence for try number two. 0-14

Score three followed a few minutes later, again a Paul Evans break from deep within Westoe’s half set up John Younghusband in support, who charged over the line carrying several defenders with him. 0-21

At this point Westoe were in total control of the game; however things quickly changed and they entered a period where they could do nothing right. Six penalties and a John Younghusband yellow card, all within ten minutes, took away any attacking impetus and gave Castle the foothold they needed to come back into the match.

Castle played the line well and advanced up the steep slope to within five. The initial drive from the line-out was halted, but Castle’s forwards pounded Westoe’s line time after time until they broke the defence and scored against the post. 7-21

Thirty minutes in, Westoe conceded more penalties giving Castle a second close-range line-out. Westoe disrupted the line and stole the ball, only to have the clearing kick charged down and pounced on by Castle giving them their second score up the hill. 12-21

At this stage Westoe were looking a little panicky as things were certainly not going to plan. Ten first half penalties and a couple of botched tries made the game a little close for comfort knowing they would be up the slope second half.

Westoe’s pack continued to drive the ball forward and, when released, some great backs interplay saw Joe McKenzie link with Jake Arnold, who initially ignored the extra man out wide, but managed to offload in the tackle for Paul Evans to cross for the bonus point try. Westoe added to their tally with a last minute penalty. HT – 12-31

With Castle fighting hard and now with a considerable slope to climb, Westoe needed something special to ensure they scored first and not let Castle to regain any dominance.

No-one was expecting the show of handling skills from three big forwards, normally renowned for their direct running. Louis Kellett, Sam Gaff and Ryan Lamb all showed why so much time is spent on handling at training, with three long-range accurate passes, finding Matt Rannigan, who spotted the space out wide and beat the last defender to cross after four minutes of the half. 12-38

Castle were still in the game at this point, but it appeared that any comeback would be a difficult ask when ten minutes in, Sam Seymour threaded his way through the gap and fed Joe McKenzie for the score. 12-45

It was the Jake Arnold/Paul Evans combination again that caused Castle problems, the final tackle bringing down Evans, but not before he palmed the ball to Louis Kellett for try number seven. 12-52

The final ten minutes saw Castle reverting to uncontested scrums due to injuries and Westoe running in three more scores, taking the final tally to ten in all.

The first a Joe McKenzie inside pass to replacement Chris Judson, who evaded the defence and put John Younghusband across the line. 12-59

With only a few minutes to play, a quick penalty take was spun wide with Hayden Richards in support for the final pass, crossing in the corner. 12-64

Richards also touched down the final score of the game after a twenty metre driving maul inched its way up the hill into the corner to cap off a fine win. Final score 12-69

A great start to the New Year for Westoe who ran in a total of forty-one tries in January and re-booted their season after a few difficult weeks pre-Christmas.

Westoe have a week off from League Rugby; however face an intriguing Cup Fixture against Novocastrians, who are currently sitting one place below them in the league and playing some impressive rugby.

With next week seeing the start of the Six Nations, both sides may be missing players due to annual pilgrimages to support the National Teams; however it will be a good compass to gauge the current forms of the two sides.