Castle make it 3 on the bounce

With impressive victories in their last two games Barney travelled to Seaham hoping to make it three in a row and avenge their defeat to Seaham at home earlier in the season. With confidence high and cheered on by a travelling band of supporters they came out of the blocks with energy and ambition and had the better of a frenetic opening 20 minutes where both sides put in some crunching tackles.
On 20 minutes Castle made the breakthrough as Luke Cowley received the ball in space on the halfway line and brushed aside his opposite number to charge in under the posts for an excellent try. With skipper Greg Upton slotting the conversion Barney led 0-7.
Shortly afterwards Henry Thompson scored a blistering solo try down the left wing as he used his pace and strength to evade despairing Seaham tackles to run in a superb score. Upton again bagged the extra’s to double Castle’s advantage, 0-14.
Castle continued to press, but Seaham’s defence held out and the score remained 0-14 as the half-time whistle blew.
The second half began in a similar vein with both defences called into action in ferocious exchanges. Barney continued to impress and 15 minutes into the half an excellent scrum on the Seaham 22 saw Ali Johnson break along the blind side, feeding fly half Ralph Makepeace, who in turn passed to Sam Clarke who dived over in the top corner. With the tricky conversion missed the lead was 0-19.
For the next few minutes a rampant Castle continued to press and only excellent Seaham defence prevented them from securing a well-deserved bonus point fourth try.
Seaham weren’t done, however, and they hit back hard in the closing 15 minutes, securing a converted try with 5 minutes to go to take the score to 7-19. Seaham now sensed that they could get something from the game and threw everything at the Barney line for the last few minutes, but the Castle defence held firm with superb tackles and excellent rucking and they kept the hosts at bay to hold out for another impressive victory.
The win lifts Castle to 9th in the table and next week Barney travel to top of the table Guisborough for what should be an excellent test for this exciting, young and improving side. Man of the match, nominated by the opposition, was Luke Cowley.
On a neighbouring pitch the second teams of both clubs battled it out in boggy conditions. Barney’s side was a great mix of youth and experience with several excellent youngsters making their debuts in adult rugby and a few veterans pulling on their boots and rubbing on the Liniment for the first time in a long while. Playing some excellent running rugby, it was Castle who ran out well-deserved winners, 35-15.
Nick Raper