Durham City Saracens 80 Northern Panthers 8

Saturday 07 December 2019
Durham City Saracens (2nds) v Northern Panthers (3rds)
(Home - Shincliffe 1) 2:15 pm KO
Result : Durham City Saracens 80 - 8 Northern Panthers (HT 49 - 0)

Team sheet :

15 Rob Smith
14 Russell Harris
13 Gary Izomor
12 Arnie Stevenson
11 Max Bailey
10 James Coxon
9 Dan Spence
1 Jim Earley
2 Michael Hay
3 Ed Partridge
4 Jonathan Deighton
5 Matty Sayer
6 Andy Kirkup (Captain)
7 Euan Gardiner
8 Rhys Powell

Replacements

16 Dan Young
17 Jason Coumans

Physiotherapist None

Referee David Swainson (Durham Referees Society)

On a cold and increasingly windswept afternoon at Shincliffe, where the pitch was heavy after the recent wet weather but well-grassed, Durham City’s 2nds (the ‘Saracens’) defeated Northern 3rds (the ‘Panthers’) 80-8 in a game that saw City’s 12 tries come from nine players - ten if you count a penalty try.

With the team having travelled and playing so well with great spirit in the side’s last game two weeks ago at Berwick the intention in selection was to be loyal to those who played. However as it turned out only seven of those who played made it into the side. The only survivors in the backs were : full back Max Bailey who switched to the left wing to make way for Rob Smith ; and scrum half Dan Spence ; whilst Jason Coumans was on the bench. The five forwards were : Jim Earley who took up his more accustomed loose-head position rather than hooking ; tight-head Ed Partridge ; second row Matty Sayer ; open-side Euan Gardiner ; and No.8 Rhys Powell.

City lost the toss and kicked off towards the Sherburn House end with the cross-field win at their backs and with City’s 3rds (the Cherrypickers) playing Sunderland 3rds on the adjacent pitch, there was a lot of rugby to entertain more than a few spectators. City soon showed their ascendancy first by creaming the opposition eight in the scrum and then scoring five converted tries in the first quarter. First Rhys Powell showed his strength in opening the scoring by forcing his way over the line, and he was quickly followed by hooker Michael Hay who ran a long way through the scattered Northern defence after they’d kicked the ball away aimlessly. Outside centre Gary Izomor scored the third which, after he made the break, ended up being a walk-in and Jim Earley got the fourth with his third of the season getting on the end of a well-constructed driving maul from a line-out won ten metres out. The first quarter scoring was a completed by Dan Spence breaking and running from what seemed like half-way and with outside half James Coxon converting all five to bring a score-line of 35-0 thereafter the game was never going to be lost.

That City’s next scores didn’t come until the last five minutes of the half was down to a combination of : Northern’s defensive resolve ; City’s inability to put phases together ; and second row Jonathan Deighton being yellow carded. The sixth try was perhaps an example of this when scrappy play saw the ball spill loose into the Northern in-goal area after what looked like a high tackle by City on a Northern defender and Gary Izomor almost apologetically dotted the ball down for the try. Matty Sayer, who had proved to be a committed carrier and supporting player then forced his away over to complete the half’s try-scoring before James Coxon made it a perfect conversion rate of seven from seven for a half-time score of 49-0.

Two changes were made at half time : Dan Young came on at blind-side for Captain Andy Kirkup who replaced Jim Earley at loose-head ; and Jason Coumans on on the left wing for Max Bailey who switched to full-back with Rob Smith moving to centre to replace Gary Izomor who along with his co-centre Arnie Stevenson was returning after a long time out with injury.

Northern continued their gritty resistance from the re-start and made in-roads to the City half where they were awarded and converted a penalty to get on the score-board at 49-3. City then got two more tries before the end of the third quarter ; the first a penalty try as City marched a scrum over the Northern line and the next when flanker Euan Gardiner made it to the line with some elusive running after a number of phases and with James Coxon’s conversion City’s lead stretched to 63-8. These scores sandwiched right wing Russell Harris’ retirement with a knee injury so prompting Dan Young moving to the right wing, Andy Kirkup reverting to the blind-side and Jim Earley coming back on at loose-head.

As the end of the third quarter approached Northern got the try they had rarely threatened but thoroughly deserved when their left wing was put away and flat-footed three City defenders to score at the posts reminding everyone that there’s no substitute for pace. Almost unbelievably the conversion was missed to keep the score at 63-8. The efforts of their winger who had shown great application all afternoon unfortunately took their toll on his stomach as play was held up while he evacuated its contents before making a full recovery.

The last ten minutes saw City confirm their dominance with three more tries : the first by Max Bailey who sped down the right hand touch-line for an unconverted score ; the second by Rob Smith typically evading defenders before crossing for a try converted by James Coxon ; and the last by a supporting Rhys Powell for which Rob Smith’s conversion attempt came back off a post to keep the final score at 80-8.

Once again there were a number of worthy contenders for City’s Man of the Match but it went to the tenacious Euan Gardiner. This was not only a repeat of his winning the award in the reverse fixture at Northern earlier in the season but he also matched his try-scoring feat by scoring in both games.

My comments from Saturday :
As the team has scored umpteen tries so far this season it gets lots of practice receiving re-starts yet it is perhaps the weakest part of the side’s game. In amongst a general lack of a loud and early ‘name on it’ on Saturday, Ed Partridge was the best receiver as a number of times (at least twice) he caught the ball securely with the opposition on him on the City ten metre line.

I’m told congratulations are due to Darlington’s Lindsay Evans who refereed well the 3rd team game, that City won 19-12, talking to the players and showing understanding and for one Saturday at least banishing the male referees to the gym for changing.

A suggestion that we go greener and plant some ‘shelter-belt’ trees at Shincliffe.

With no game this Saturday 14th December and with one not being sought, unless we get a game on the 4th January it looks like a long five week ‘Christmas’ break until we play Gateshead 2nds at home in a friendly on the 11th January 2020.

City scorers :

Gary Izomor 2 tries
Rhys Powell 2 tries
Max Bailey 1 try
Jim Earley 1 try
Euan Gardiner 1 try
Michael Hay 1 try
Matty Sayer 1 try
Rob Smith 1 try
Dan Spence 1 try
Penalty try
James Coxon 9 cons

Saturday’s win takes this season’s overall Saracens’ record to :
P 11 W 09 D 00 L 02
F 592 A 200 and a try count of 92 for and 31 against.

and the River Aln League record to :
P 09 W 08 D 00 L 01
F 547 A 157 with a try count of 85 for and 25 against.

whilst last season’s overall record was :
P 21 W 14 D 00 L 07
F 832 A 538 and a total of 133 tries for and 86 against.

Stewart Eddie
12 December 2019