Plenty of positives in loss to Horden

Kitch was a real character, a wonderful man who will be sadly missed by all at the club. The thoughts of all at Barnard Castle Rugby Club are, of course, with Graeme’s family.

On the pitch Castle are rebuilding this season after the departure of several experienced payers during the close season and the new-look side has a decidedly youthful feel, as a number of very promising youngsters have grabbed their first team places.
The visitors, Horden and Peterlee, however, appeared to have strengthened over the summer and appeared bigger, heavier and much more experienced than their young hosts.

Barney began the game well, playing with pace and energy and looking to move the ball wide at every opportunity. Both defences held firm in the opening exchanges, but then Barney lost a man to the sin-bin and Horden exploited their numerical advantage when after 15 minutes they opened the scoring as their centre touched down in the bottom left hand corner following a smart interchange between forwards and backs.

Castle nearly struck-back immediately as a neat chip through was chased down by Lucas Summers, but the ball rolled into touch before he could ground it.

Whilst Barney’s lineout was functioning brilliantly, the scrum was a different matter as the lighter pack struggled to compete against Horden’s scrummaging power. It was from a scrum that Horden secured their second try of the day as a set-piece on the Barney 10 metre line was pushed inexorably back over the try-line to extend the lead to 0-10.

The visitors then stretched their lead to 0-17 as good pace and support play saw the Horden centre grabbing a third try, which was comfortably converted.

On 30 minutes player/ coach Junior and second-row Callum Burke joined the fray and Castle enjoyed a spell of pressure as half-time approached.

The second half began in similar vein as Barney pressured the Horden line and a penalty under the posts saw Horden’s defence standing firm, enabling them to clear their lines.

After their best spell of the game Castle deservedly got themselves on the scoresheet as a turnover deep in their own half saw skipper Ali Johnson breaking into the Horden half and off-loading to Tom Steen who still had a great deal to do, but scorched and bundled his way through the Horden defence for the try. With the conversion by Greg Upton Barney were back in the game at 7-17.

Hopes were high that Castle may get something out of the game, but Horden had other ideas as their superiority at scrum-time came back to haunt the hosts. A scrum on the home 22 metre-line saw Horden’s pack rumble towards the Castle try-line. As Barney desperately tried to hold back the tide they infringed and the young referee, James Gray, who again impressed with the whistle, had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try and brandishing the yellow-card to reduce Barney to 14 players.

From the re-start Horden again made numbers tell and sealed their victory and extended their lead with the try of the day as they moved the ball with pace and powerful support-play. With the conversion they now led 7-31 with about 20 minutes still to go.

Barney showed great tenacity, however, to see the remainder of the game out without conceding further points. Indeed, once they were restored to the full 15 they threatened to add to their own score, but Horden’s resolute defence held them at bay.

The final score of 7-31 – which was exactly the same as last season - was ultimately disappointing, but it has to be said that the visitors deserved their victory, they seemed much stronger and more powerful than in recent seasons and should do well as the season progresses. However, there were many positives to take from the Barney performance that they can look to build on, as this young side develops and matures in the coming weeks.

Match sponsors were the club’s Old Boys and the opposition named Ali Johnson as man of the match. Next week sees Barney travel to Medicals for what should be an interesting contest as they, like Castle, tend to be a young, pacey and mobile side.

Nick Raper