Yarm vs Consett

Weather conditions were good although the pitch was a bit heavy.
Consett started slowly and were pegged back in their own half for some time but defended well. Consett gave away a kickable penalty for offside but the attempt was pushed wide and the scores stayed level.
The visitors had some promising moments through good offloading and excellent support play but were unable to finish off the move. The Yarm 9 did a good job of pushing Consett back into their own half with some accurate kicking and sharp work from quick penalties.

Consett were unlucky not to open the scoring when John Astbury crossed the line but was deemed to be held up. They finally broke through not long later when Connor Gates finished off a number of good phases of possession. Tom Johnson converted and the away side took a 0-7 lead.

Yarm responded quickly and a couple of breaks lead to them being within 5 metres of the Consett line. An infringement at the breakdown allowed Yarm a penalty which was taken quickly by the scrum half, crossing under the posts. Scores level at 7-7.

Con were reduced to 14 when prop Lewis McQueen lashed out after a ruck and was lucky not to see red twice!

Yarm made good advantage of the extra man and scored on the stroke of half time in the corner. The Yarm kicker nudged over an excellent conversion to give the home side 14-7 lead going into the break.

The second half saw Consett have the majority of possession which they used a lot better. They survived the rest of the sin bin without conceding and were restored to full strength.

Lee Terrington making his debut scored with his first touch of the game after patient build up play by Consett. Using the overlap well, the backs released Lee to score in the corner. TJ pushing the kick just wide of the post and Yarm held a slender lead, 14-12.

With time running out Consett pushed on and found themselves with another overlap on the left wing. However this time it was man of the match Chris Gray who stepped into the fly half role and put in Haydn Petch (Lloyd Perch to some) for the winning try. No stopping him from that distance as he is ‘massive’. Conversion missed but Consett were in the lead with 3 minutes to go.

Apart from a late scare as the Yarm 10 broke through, Consett held on for a 14-17 away win. Next game away to Guisborough!