A thundering good result at Darlington

Barnie rolled up to Blackwell Meadows hot on the heels of a very short but very sharp thundery downpour for their second warm-up game of the season with a healthy squad of 30 players.
Given the fact that it had been hosing rain down just before the game it was no surprise that even on Darlington’s excellent pitch, the ball was greasy and both sides took time to settle as any poor pass was spilt.
Darlington’s beefier side tried to put together phases of forward play while Castle chose to spin the ball wide. Although the first fifteen minutes were honours-even, when Darlington kicked the ball downfield fullback Lucas Summers ran the ball back across the field and when stopped on halfway, the backrow of Sam King and Marty Lonsdale were quickly on hand to recycle the ball and scrumhalf Ali Johnston put right wing Tom Steen away. Steen’s pace scorched the turf as he tore down the wing and then cut inside and across to the posts for a highly impressive finish.
Castle then struggled to get on the right side of the ref and lost momentum as they yielded a series of penalties to allow Darlington back into the game. However from a threatening home lineout Sam King poached the ball at the back and quick hands released Upton, Welsby downfield and play was resumed on halfway. Sam Errington’s line kicking soon got the team further into the Darlington half and after a number of surges for the line, nice interplay between Welsby and brothers Jack and Sam Clarke saw Jack receive the ball and gallop over in the left-hand corner. Curtis Brunell had a game effort at the conversion but it just drifted wide. It was in this period that Castle lost the services of flyhalf Errington and fullback Summers to knocks.
The restart kick went straight to Steen who once more made excellent ground running through the Darlington pack before feeding supporting player Cameron Young. Cammy was unable to find Steen with a return pass and with other supporting players arriving too late a good attacking opportunity was lost.
Darlington returned to their pick and drive game and Castle prop Rowan Hall Beasley was immense in defence putting in scything tackles again and again to snuff out attacks. Ali Johnston too put in a great cover tackle when one of the burly Darlington forwards appeared to have broken through. Hooker Matthew Raper was frequently the first one to dive down onto the ball to clear up spilt possession and secure it for the visiting side.
Ali Johnston was next on the scoresheet as his breakdown the blindside of the scrum allowed him to link with Welsby. He returned the favour to the looping Johnston who had the strength and pace to drive through to the right-hand corner before circling behind the Darlington posts. Brunell this time had no problem with the conversion.
Deep into the second quarter Nick Moore showed his gene-pool by frequently making a mess of the Darlington lineout and careering downfield fending off would-be tacklers. Every time Upton, Welsby and winger Miles Brookes got the ball, they made good ground downfield, spoilt only occasionally by a wayward pass or dropped ball in the gathering mist and murk.
Despite Darlington’s weight advantage the Castle scrum remained highly competitive in the tight, putting considerable pressure on the home eight whenever they had a scrum. However, although there were a number of attacks no further scores occurred as half time was whistled.
For the third quarter, coach Junior replaced most of the side with players who have plied most of their trade in the second team last season and also introduced Robbie Lavin for his first game of senior rugby. To the manor born.
Darlington too made many changes and the game moved back and forth between the two twenty-two metre lines without much threat to either tryline. Most eye-catching were some of the bullocking runs from Nick Parry playing at number eight and Miles Brookes continued to threaten up the left wing. As the game hit the hour mark, Darlington throwing the ball wide from inside their own half dropped the ball and a kick through from one of the Barnie centres sat up nicely for Ben Sanderson who pinned his ears pack and left the home defence for dead.
In the final quarter, Darlington reverted to their strongest side had the unchanged Castle side under greater pressure as they hammered their way down the slope. Bobby Lumsdon put in some cracking tackles and Brookes too defended well as the attacks intensified. Castle needed to go back to basics but opted for more complicated lineout moves and paid the penalty. Gifting the ball to the Darlington forwards was bound to have consequences and in the final quarter, twice the forwards broke through tackles to improve the scoreline.
All in all, a good test of the club’s overall strength and some pointers for things to work on in training in the sessions remaining before the first league games of the season on 7th September.