Durham University 51 v Barnard Castle 10
Castle defeated by impressive league leaders

Barney travelled to top of the table Durham University knowing that they would have to be at their very best against a side who had comfortably won all of their opening fixtures. Castle were cheered on by a good group of travelling supporters, which included Bath number 7 and England prospect, Guy Pepper, who was there to support his mates.

Barney were close to full strength and welcomed Maurice ‘Bats’ Batiuluna for his first team debut, following excellent performances for the club’s Development XV. Barney began brightly and were soon rewarded with a penalty that was converted by Ralph Makepeace (Sponsor: D Souter Farrier Services) to give them an early lead, 0-3.

Barney’s lead was soon extended as a scrum on the University’s 22 metre line saw Bats pick and go and power over for the try, 0-10 with Ralph successful with the conversion. Any thoughts of victory were, however, quickly stifled as the students hit-back immediately with a try that demonstrated their energy, pace and exceptional handling skills, 5-10.

The scores were soon level, as another lightning-quick attack resulted in another try and within minutes the students had taken the lead when poor tackling allowed the University full-back to run in for the try, 10-17. The University were now just about in the ascendancy, but they were lucky with their next try when a mistake by Castle saw the ball squirt out of the scrum, enabling the scrum half to secure the easy try. There was still time left in the half for them to run in another impressive score to lead 29-10 at the interval.

Barney’s management team made a few positional tweaks at the break and the team began the second half well, pressurising the University scrum and threatening to score to get back into the game. Castle spent several minutes hammering away at the opposition’s try-line, with Bats and James Peareth (Peareth Financial) prominent, but their efforts went unrewarded as a penalty enabled Durham to clear their lines.

For the first part of the second half the University hadn’t been in the Barney half, but when they did visit after 15 minutes it was to claim another try to extend their lead to 34-10. Barney continued their efforts to get something from the game, but the student’s defence was excellent and they rebuffed the Castle attacks.

In the closing minutes Durham were able to run in three late scores which gave the final score of 51-10 an unfairly harsh edge that didn’t really reflect the fact that Barney had given a really good account of themselves. Barney had played with a real intensity that hadn’t been as evident on a couple of away trips this season and against lesser opposition they will have surely had a much better outcome. Durham University will almost certainly win the league and are by some margin the strongest side that Barney have faced in the season to date.

The opposition nominated James Peareth as man of the match for another excellent performance. Next week sees Barney at home against high-flying Hartlepool Rovers for a 2pm kick-off and another tough test.

Nick Raper