The last time these local rivals met Barney were on their way up to Durham and Northumberland Division 1 and they ran out comfortable winners. Following relegation at the end of last season Barney are now back in Division 2 and have had a stuttering start to the season, whilst Bishop have been flying high and lie second in the table. Castle’s young side have begun to gel, however and hopes were high that momentum could be maintained in what is always a hard-fought local battle.
Barney began brightly with excellent interplay between forwards and backs they threatened the Bishop line. However, a couple of penalties saw Castle pinned back on their own try-line and from the ensuing lineout Bishop moved the ball wide for their winger to score and give them a 0-5 lead with the conversion missed.
Barney hit back almost immediately with a penalty slotted over by James Baber, 3-5. The play swung to and fro, with both sides playing some attractive rugby before another lineout catch and drive from Bishop saw a pile of bodies over the Castle line and the referee decided that the try had been scored. With the conversion good the score moved to 3-12.
Once again, however, Barney were quick to hit back, with excellent handling by the backs finished off well by Luke Cowley who cantered in at the bottom corner. With the tricky conversion missed the score stood at 8-12.
With confidence high Castle came close to taking the lead but skipper, Greg Upton, was stopped short by an excellent covering tackle. Bishop then capitalised on a charge-down and their centre ran through to score the try to take them into an 8-19 lead.
The game was still evenly poised when quick-thinking by winger Oscar Jacques saw him chip over the top for Upton to gather and race through for the converted try. This took the score to 15-19 at half time, with everything to play for.
Barney began the second half brightly, but then the Bishop centre intercepted when Castle were running the ball out of defence and the referee waved aside protests that the Bishop midfield were offside to award the try, 15-26.
Barney were continuing to play some attractive rugby and Oscar Jacques displayed blistering pace on the left wing before chipping through to wrong-foot the Bishop defenders. He was able to follow up and touch down for the converted try to narrow the gap to 22-26.
The game was being played at a frantic pace and Bishop were next to score following a kick through and the conversion took their lead to 22-33. Seeking a bonus-point try and a losing bonus point Castle dominated for the last 10 minutes and constantly threatened the Bishop try-line, but the visitors’ defence held firm.
Barney thought that they were about to secure the try, with what turned out to be the last play of the game, when Matt Morrison gathered the ball in space and set off for the try line unopposed, but the referee deemed that the final pass was forward and blew for full time. A disappointing end to proceedings, as Barney will rightly feel that they had deserved to take something from a game in which they were always competitive.
This was an excellent game, played in a good spirit between two sides who were committed to playing open and attractive rugby. Castle had played really well as a team, with Coach, Junior, leading from the front, but the opposition nominated full-back Danny Winter as player of the match in recognition of a faultless display.
Next week Barney travel to local rivals, Darlington, before hosting Redcar on Saturday the 18th December. They will be hoping that their improvement continues and will enable them to claim some much needed points and take them up the table.
Nick Raper