City Saracens 19 DU Palatinates 66

Saturday 30 April 2022
Durham City Saracens (2nds) v Durham University 2nds
Durham County 2nd Teams Cup Final
(Hollow Drift 1) 3.00pm KO
Result : Durham City 19 - 66 Durham University

(HT 0-26 ?)

Team sheet :

15 Jonny Hedley
14 James MacLaurin
13 Myron Dempsey
12 Arnie Stevenson
11 James Cook
10 Alec Barradell
9 Dan Spence
1 Dan Young
2 Mike Hay
3 Andy Kirkup (Captain)
4 Matty Sayer
5 Josh Cotton
6 Rhys Powell
7 Liam Davies
8 Howard Johnson

Replacements

16 Jack Bengochea
17 Jim Earley
18 James Ford
19 Kiran Hope
20 Tim Mackay
21 Will Robinson
22 Matty Vincent

And not forgetting the five reserves who made themselves available but didn’t make the list of seven replacements that were allowed by the County Rules :

Dave Berriman
Tom Davies
Noah Hindley
Craig Oliver
Fran Silveira

And as it was the last game of City Saracens’ 2021-2022 season it is well worth listing the other 23 players who told us they were unavailable for this Cup Final :

Ralph Archer (Injured)
Dave Atkinson (Away)
Max Bailey (At a wedding)
Max Blackbourne (Away)
Julian Cadigan (Away)
Matthew Cartmel (Work ?)
Jonathan Deighton (Injured)
Josh Diver (Work ?)
Tom Duclos (injured)
Russell Harris (Away)
Felix Hawes (Work)
Matt Mercer (Unfit/Injured)
Jack Moralee (Injured)
Conor Murray (Work)
Jack Murray (Work)
Ed Partridge (Injured)
Greg Roberts (Illness)
Rob Smith (Work ?
Ben Speight (Injured)
Nick Steel (Away)
John Tindale (On tour)
Tom Wilkinson (Child minding)
Ian Wren (Away)

Physiotherapist None

Referee Adam Tweddle (Durham Society)
Referee’s Assistant Dave Swainson (Durham Society)
Referee’s Assistant Sam Plyming (Durham Society)

It is also perhaps appropriate to include the Programme Notes for this rightly auspicious game coming as it does on the eve of Durham City RFC’s 150th Anniversary (for which the earliest recorded match was against Durham University on Saturday 20 February 1873 and the only record for it was that it was halted after twenty minutes when a Mr Carey of the University suffered a broken leg and was carried by his fellow students back to the Castle) :

“ This season has seen the Durham City Saracens play the Durham University Palatinates both ‘home’ and ‘away’ on the Racecourse in the Candy League South. The University ‘Palatinates’ are a Saturday team managed by Paul Baty and Mick Woodley and are made up with the many players the University have who are too good for their College sides but don’t get a regular Wednesday game. It remains to be seen whether City play the University 2nds or their Palatinates this afternoon. What we do know, and as we’ve already experienced this season, it should be a good game of rugby football - though City’s Saracens lost both games as described by my summary paragraphs that follow :

Saturday 16 October 2021
This was a very good game of rugby football that City lost 5-26 (1-4 on tries) that proved there’s no substitute for pace (and youth with good hands). From the Saracens point of view a terrific first half saw City 5-0 up with seconds remaining only for the Palatinates to get the ball back from City’s poor receipt of DU’s re-start and run in a try with the last play of the half - something that was repeated in the second half. Conceding two converted tries within ten minutes of the half-time break left City’s Saracens with too much to do.

Saturday 29 January 2022
What good game of rugby was had in the awful conditions of the cross-field gale of Storm Malik. It produced a 29-38 (5 tries to 6) defeat for the Saracens and a deserved win for DU Palatinates who were always points up. The game was a great credit to both sides and in some ways was a bit of a classic with the University’s pace, handling and off-loading skills meaning they were always a threat but they were almost matched by the terrific spirit shown by the Saracens during the full 80 minutes.

Though this could be seen as a poor season given that 71 players (yes that’s not a misprint it was 71 before Wednesday’s game) have been used - many for one game only - it’s a credit to the five captains who’ve played (Andy Kirkup, Rhys Powell, Rob Smith, Dan Spence and Dan Young) and especially those who’ve turned out regularly that they’ve been able to produce some sterling performances of which three were won by the opposition with the last plays of the game. Let’s hope it’s us doing it today. Finally a mention for those who have been on the squad list for at least seven of the matches - they are : Jack Bengochea, James Cook, Liam Davies, Tom Davies, Jim Earley, Michael Huntington, James MacLaurin, Rhys Powell, Matty Sayer, Dan Spence and Dan Young. It’s good to know that nine of the eleven are playing this afternoon. Finally, and perhaps most importantly of all, it’s been great to have our Colts coming through our system to play senior rugby - this has to be down to all our wonderful Colt, Junior and Mini coaches - Garath Archer and Paul McGoay - to name but two.

City’s Saracens route to the Final :

22 January 2022 : Round of 16 v Hartlepool Rovers (H) W 34-3

12 March 2022 : Quarter-final v South Shields Westoe (H) W 36-31

19 March 2022 : Semi-final v Consett and District (H) W 36-7

SE 26 April 2022“

NOT SO MUCH AS ‘A BRIDGE TOO FAR’ IT WAS MORE A CASE OF ‘A GAME TOO FAR’

Though winning the Candy League Trophy against Medicals 2nds with a terrific performance on Wednesday night the Saracens were handicapped by unavailabilities, a cry-off on Thursday night and also lost two players to injury. The City side was therefore both depleted behind the scrum and seriously in trouble before the start of a game which should have been the pre-cursor of a great day for City rugby which, as happened, it was demonstrably not, losing it as they did by three tries to (was it ten ?) ten.

City kicked off on a glorious afternoon towards the River Wear end in front of what had to have been a larger than normal Saturday crowd of both Citizens and University Students. The City Saracens’ keen anticipation soon evaporated with three penalties which didn’t find touch and two re-starts one of which didn’t go the ten and the other that went out on the full. Additionally the 1st half saw knock-ons because of inaccurate passing and players trying too hard to force the game with poor skills and no clear thinking.

Thus the University had ample opportunities to counter and they maintained possession for long periods with referee Adam Tweddle correctly both playing advantage and bringing the play back when the University had no advantage. To their eternal credit the Saracens’ forwards never gave up the fight and in the first quarter should have had a penalty try when the University collapsed a driving maul near the their line.

And so to half time with the University, who had been too quick and slick for City, four tries to the good with the score at 0-26 (we think). It was also quite evident that a half with less mistakes from City would have made things a bit different - or as an erstwhile All Blacks coach said ‘eliminate errors and you win matches’. However, with Myron Dempsey leaving the field injured with a dislocated shoulder, the City Saracens backs suffered even more disruption.

Despite this adversity City managed to score three tries in the third quarter. The first when one of the forwards got over from a driving maul at the posts; the next when the indefatigable James Cook was heavily involved in getting James MacLaurin over in what was virtually City’s only handling move of the game ; and the third when Josh Cotton scored from a caught and driven line-out. Two conversions were added to complete the Saracens final tally of 19 points.

But as the game wore on the University exploited the gaps in the Saracens ranks with their coach, ex University and City player Mick Woodley, having the luxury of being able to call on their replacements who seemed to strengthen rather than weaken their back division. The visitors (if I can call them that) therefore continued to play expansive rugby until the final whistle to conclusively and deservedly win the County 2nd Teams Cup.

A special mention, if not the Man of the Match, has to go to Jonny Hedley who had played so well on the flank in the quarter final win against South Shields Westoe and who had to perform heroics at full-back in this game. It was odd to see the City forwards trudge off behind the stand for scrummage practice before the game when they clearly needed some line-out options for a pack that had no specialist line-out forwards. It was also funny to hear the side being criticised for a lack of defensive line-speed in the last quarter when they were so obviously knackered.

All in all it was a very disappointing day for the Durham City Club - a day which ten days before had promised so much. Nevertheless the Saracens deserve great credit for their excellent Cup run in which they proved themselves to be one of the top 2nd teams in the County and hopefully it was an experience that would leave all the 22 players who got on the park in this Final and indeed all this season’s City players - all 75 of them (yes that’s 75), wanting more in what will be the Club’s 150th Anniversary season.

The game brings City’s Saracens season to a close and the end of season record is :

Played : 15 W : 7 L : 8 Points F : 507 Points A : 383 Tries for : 72 Tries against : 48 + 10?= 58

of which the truncated ‘Candy League 2 South’ record is :

Played : 8 W : 2 L : 6 Points F : 173 Points A : 204 Tries for : 28 Tries against : 31

SE (from JD’s ‘scribbled’ notes on the game)
Friday 06 May 2022