Darlington 65 Gosforth 14

Darlington 65 Gosforth 14

Saturday 24th March 2012

VENUE: Blackwell Meadows, Darlington

It was a perfect day for rugby at an attractive venue, warm, hazy sun, still air, unfortunately, it was to prove a somewhat stormy battering for the Gosforth team and their followers.

THE MATCH: Mark Anderson kicked off at 3pm, but the visitors were caught flat footed, when the Darlington full back Aaron McNeily outpaced the defence to cross for an early try, within 5 minutes a crisp passing move created a try scoring opportunity for home side centre Andrew Pugh, who weaved his way to the line and scored, flyhalf Henry Carver converting to make it 12-0. Darlington secured lineout ball then drove for the Gosforth line where prop Joe Hargreaves grounded the ball for a try with just 12 minutes on the clock.

Flanker Adam Bell and scrumhalf Tim Deakin put in a couple of excellent tackles, but Darlington were rampant, and soon, despite Ben Debnam putting in a strong tackle the home side kept the ball alive and scored the fourth bonus point winning try, which flyhalf Henry Carver converted. Another strong direct run with crisp interpassing led to Darlington's fifth try, which Carver converted to give them a 31-0 lead with less than 30 minutes of the half played. Gosforth got possession of the elusive ball, and Andy Ushaw scored a clever try, chip kicking, following up and touching down, Mark Anderson's conversion meant that Gosforth had 7 points. But Darlington's pack then put in a phenemonal drive which led to one of their number scoring. At the close of the half, more positive, slick passing and a long pass to winger David MacFall meant that the home side led 41-7 at halftime.

Within a couple of minutes of the restart Darlington's accurate passing and jinking attacking running led to another try; Matt Gaynor, who had joined the fray battled bravely alongside Aiden Marsh; Bonkin came on to the wing with G Johnston moving to the centre, "G" tackled a Darlington player in to touch, Mark Anderson superbly tackled a Darlington player in full flight, but once again Darlington's ability to keep the ball alive going forward led to a try, which pushed them over 50 points. At 51-7, it seemed to their supporters that they might score 100, but Gosforth were not lacking in spirit, and put Darlington under some pressure in their own 22. But the weighty Darlington forwards battered and mauled their way to the line to engineer another try, which centre Conor O'Leary converted to increase their lead to 58-7.

Another foray into the home side's "22" ended happily for Gosforth when the referee awarded a consolation penalty try, which Mark Anderson converted to make it 58-14 with 5 minutes of the match remaining. However, the final word went to the powerful Darlington forwards, who won a lineout set up a driving maul and once again scored a try, Conor O'Leary's conversion took their tally to 65 points. Towards the end Ben Debnam was laid low with an injury, we hope he soon recovers. Darlington's winger David Macfall had scored a hat trick,his fellow winger Matt Sowerby crossed for one try, as did scrumhalf Mark Baldwin and centre Andy Pugh, amongst the forwards prop Joe Hargreaves, No8, Tom Wilkinson and lock Chris Oakley were scorers.

Next week we face Ashington at home, they arrive fresh from a 22-14 over Horden, so it will be a rugged encounter