Pitchero

Barnard Castle

Gateshead

C Wearmouth (2), J Larder, D Potts, H Barkes, G Welsby, R Stanwix

Tries

S Errington, G Upton (2)

Conversions

S Errington

Penalties

Sat 13 Jan 14:15 - Northern Division - Durham & Northumberland 1 Full time

Report

Highlights

Selection

League round up

Tasty Hors D'Ouevres; now for the main course !!

By David Bottoms

On a typical winters days for rugby with a cold biting easterly wind Castle lined up against a Gateshead side placed only a couple positions below them in the league and scenting an upset

On a typical winters days for rugby with a cold biting easterly wind Castle lined up against a Gateshead side placed only a couple positions below them in the league and scenting an upset. Barnie on the other hand were keen to gain revenge for one of their two defeats so far this season up at ‘Heed’.
Ultimately Gateshead were crushed having been outplayed in all facets of the game and Castle helped the top four clubs ease away from the chasing pack to slim down the promotion candidates.
Gateshead having arrived by coach so early that the club was only just open in time started well enough but Castle then steamrollered downfield and flyhalf Errington popped over a nerve-settling penalty.
After Gateshead had miscued their own penalty opportunity, it was pretty much all Castle for the remainder of the half. Chris Wearmouth built on his previous week’s fine performance by grabbing a brace of tries from the back of rucks in a ten minute period. Next on the scoresheet was flanker Joe Larder who capitalised on a break from backrow colleague Rob Stanwix and the first half scoring was concluded when Dan Potts scored his first of the season, acting as tail-gunner after a lineout catch and drive. In what was expected to be a close-fought game Castle were 25-0 up with a bonus point before half time.
The second half started in the same vein and it was good to see young scrumhalf Harvey Barkes get his first try for the club when he sniped round the blind side from the back of a ruck. With Errington rested, it was Greg Upton who put over the conversion extending the score to 32-0.
At this point, the game lost a bit of momentum as Gateshead tried to ‘mix-it’ with the Castle forwards to put them off their step. To a degree this worked as Stanwix was forced to take some ‘time-out’ although the Gateshead 8 was soon to follow.
Gateshead worked their way back into the game a bit as Castle eased up towards the end and closed to 32-10 before Barney re-asserted their authority and scored two late tries of their own. The first was one for the backline with George Welsby finishing off a preplanned move and the Stanwix back on the pitch, crowned a man-of-the-match performance with a long range try, barnstorming past four would-be defenders en-route to the line.
There is no doubting this was a great performance by Castle and should set them up nicely for a hum-dinger of a game this coming Saturday when they visit league leaders Durham in their own back yard where they are unbeaten so far this season.