Castle man-up despite further bad luck with injuries

Castle’s difficult season continued with a trip up to Whitley Bay Rockliffe who although promoted from the division below last season have started well and seem to be holding their own at the higher level.
Once again Castle arrived with a host of changes but nonetheless were looking forward to pitting their resources against the hosts on their artificial pitch, played under a veil of persistent rain the whole game.
The side welcomed Brett Upton into the flyhalf position and also Ryan Robinson into the second row to beef up the pack. Once more Mike Graystone stepped up from the second team into the front row to provide cover and Adrian Stubbs was added to the bench at late notice.
Castle started brightly enough but were soon hit by a double blow as first scrumhalf Rees Doyle and then skipper and number eight Mark McConnell had to leave the field with injuries meaning that a reshuffle of the pack was required and coach Junior came on to cover scrumhalf.
The changes meant that Barnie were now on the back foot and most of the plaudits were around terrific defence rather than attacking threats. Things got even worse for Castle when Upton was unlucky to get a yellow card when kicking upfield a ball that had squirted out of a Whitley Bay ruck. The referee deemed it was still in and Barnie were down to fourteen men. Their defence during this period was superb with Jon Lucas, Charlie Butlin and Mike Graystone putting in great tackles.
Sadly it was not enough, albeit by half time Castle had kept the score down to a fairly respectable 19-0.
In the second half, the song remained the same although there some great carries upfield from Nick Parry, Matthew Raper, Robinson and Marty Lonsdale, fine running lines from Charles Garland and Lewis Wigham, not to mention a spectacularly good cover tackle from flanker Matthew Morrison who did well in the lineout too.
As the players tired though, gradually the try-against tally continued to mount, not helped when Barnie received a further yellow card for an inadvertent high tackle from fullback Lucas Summers on the home winger. This also led to a penalty try.
Barnie had plenty of possession and created some fine phases of play during the game but were unable to convert these into the points their efforts deserved, especially given the changes enforced on the side.
This Saturday sees both first and second team take on mid-table Hartlepool Rovers. With a more settled side and a good training session behind them on them on Thursday it will be interesting to see whether Barnie can get a win to bolster their confidence.