1st XV
Matches
Sat 01 Nov 2014  ·  Durham/Northumberland Division One
Darlington RFC
1st XV
Tries: D Carter, J Parks, O Pearse, G Beck (2)Conversions: G Beck (3)Penalties: G Beck
34
10
Blyth
Darlington win over Blyth at home.

Darlington win over Blyth at home.

Gary Beck4 Nov 2014 - 13:28
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After a phone call late in the week from a Darlington Official the Darlington players were stood down by coach Gary Beck as the club was under the impression that the game had been cancelled. A quick ring around all the players at 1030 to find out if they were all available meant a couple of changes needed to be made; Prop, Dan Miller had made plans which meant he couldn’t play and was replaced by Joe Hargreves who pushed Joe Oselton from the bench into the front row to join Darren Hoare and skipper Paul Shepherd.
David Kilpatrick adopted the standard student lifestyle and didn’t wake from his slumber until 1330 meaning Andrew King would john Andrew Tonkin and Callum Farrand in the back row.
Finally, like Dan Miller, Sam Hardy had also made family plans so James Park who came from the bench replaced him and Conner Elser would make his first appearance into 1st XV rugby by way of the bench following his injury sustained last season.

When we did get to kick off Darlington looked very structured and very well drilled. There attacking threats came from all over the park and they took their time with the ball. Winning the contact at every possible chance meant they controlled the speed of the game and they looked extremely comfortable.
Good line breaks from Dan Carter, Ollie Pearse, Andy Robinson, Jack Harrild and Dominic McAlorum put Blyth on the back foot and we looked like scoring every time but it was the final pass / offload that would put the brakes on the Darlington attack. After we did settle things down, Andrew Tonkin got the Blyth defensive line running backwards, stepping and bumping two would be defenders of and feeding a very simple pass into James Park who then still had a bit of work to do himself dummying one and stepping two he was brought down by a great tackle by the Blyth 15 but it wasn’t enough to stop the offload to Dan Carter who took the ball over the line and under the sticks for the first converted try (Gary Beck) of the game, 7-0 Darlington.

A fantastic mid-field chop tackle by skipper Paul Shepherd resulted in a spilled ball from Blyth who until, started to show some ball in hand play. Regardless, two phases later and 6 sets of hands later (one of them being an awful pass thrown by Dan Carter who will claim it was tactical) let a rushed Blyth defense wide open to be punished by flyer James Park who casually stepped 4 and strolled around what seemed to be at least half of the Blyth team, again Beck adding the two, 14-0 Darlington.

A pass judged to be forward by the match official gave Blyth possession with a scrum on the Darlington 22 following the previous try. After just one phase of play Darlington were caught offside and the Blyth kicker took his chance 14-3, Darlington. A couple minutes later Darlington were awarded a penalty for accidental offside right infront of the Blyth posts, Beck took the extra three making it 17-3, Darlington.

A Blyth free kick gave them possession but it was wasted and the Blyth fly-half tried to kick for clearance but was mocked by Ollie Pearse who charged the kick down which bounced perfectly into his hands for a try under the posts, again converted by Beck 24-3, Darlington.

Later during the game, Blyth started to accumalte a couple of phases and managed to put the ball up their jumper and drive over the line following a couple of pick and go ‘s. The try was converted, 24-10, Darlington.

The rest of the game was very much the same for Darlington. Blyth didn’t score again but Gary ran in another try.

At a Blyth lineout Dominc McAlorum showed his strength by coming straight through the maul to rip the ball from a Blyth player. Unaware to what was going on, Dominic managed a good 15-20meter carry through what seemed to be the whole Blyth pack. After a very well controlled offload to Mark Baldwin who fed Blindside Andrew Tonkin who then went on a similar gallop up the field eventually mimicking McAlorum with another offload good handlng skills from Beck, Carter and Harrild who seemed to all touch the ball in the next couple of offloads resulted in Beck crossing the line again for another unconverted try. 29-10, Darlington.

Closing in on the final whistle Blyth came at Darlington with a last ditch effort to cross the line but a wayward pass from the green fly-half (who luckily had a worse game than Ollie Pearse, which we can laugh about now!) ended up being shunted down the field by replacement centre Adam Gardner bouncing perfectly into his hands he moved the ball effectively to Park who was brought down just inside the Blyth 22, but luckily Beck was on hand to receive the offload which put him over the line for his final try and the final score of the game.

Match details

Match date

Sat 01 Nov 2014

Kickoff

14:15

Meet time

12:45

Instructions

1245 - Meet
1330 - Individual Warm Up
1345 - Team Warm Up
1415 - Kick Off

Competition

Durham/Northumberland Division One
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Shirt Sponsor - Gray's Plumbing and Heating
Team sponsor - BCS Render Systems
Shirt Sponsor - Major's Barbers
Senior Men's Sponsor - Forge Fitness
Shirt Sponsor - Straight Up Scaffolding
Shirt Sponsor - Country Harvest Farm Foods
Shirt Sponsor - AEL Fire & Security