A Consett side off the back of a recent victory against Gateshead the weekend prior were looking to carry their strong form of late into the early rounds of the 2nd team County Cup. With Stockton Saracens being in the league above Consett knew they had a tough first round draw but showed from the outset that they weren't going to give any easy opportunities to a Stockton side which included many younger players from their Colts.

Playing with the wind in the first half Consett knew the key was to pin Stockton back deep into their own half & 22, force Stockton errors and penalties through retaining possession, effective recycling & tough hard defence. This led to the first points of the game coming through a penalty from Cook. Consett's spirited defence and quick work over the rucks from both forwards & backs allowed them to continue to dominate territory and possession in the first half and reaped the rewards with a mixture of well worked tries from both set piece and open play with trys from Adam Urwin, Nick Cook, Thai Clark & Ben Horgan. The first half finishing 25-0 to Consett.

Into the second half and this time Stockton had the elements in their favour meaning Consett would have to adapt their first half tactics somewhat. Hard running from the dominant Consett forwards and slick handling regularly got them in behind the Stockton defence and with quick recycling the ball was spun side to side stretching a tiring Stockton team. Trys in the second half came through Thai Clark with a breakaway run in from the halfway way line after some lovely offloading out of tackles, and a very similar score for Andrew Connor who dotted down under the posts after rampaging the 10m to the try line after breaking through. The final two scores in the second half were from winger Reece Brown who was a constant threat all game with his hard running and evasive feet the final try coming from cute chip over the Stockton defence which he gathered nicely and raced over the line. Consett's fantastic second half interplay, offloading and tempo proved too much for a Stockton side who did get a consolation try of their own in the second half through their prop following a quick tap penalty.

Final Score - Consett 53-5 Stockton (8 Trys, 5 Conversions, 1 Penalty)

An all round fantastic display from Consett who progress into the 2nd round of the County Cup (opposition TBC).