City Cherrypickers 64 Seaham 2s 7

Saturday 4 January 2020
Durham City Cherrypickers (3rds) v Seaham 2nds
(Home - Hollow Drift 2) 2:15 pm KO
Result : Durham City Cherrypickers 64 - 7 Seaham (HT 26 - 0)

Team sheet :

15
Andy Openshaw
14
Chris Cowie
13
Andy Oxenham
12
Grant Thompson
11
Alex Rae
10
Iain Taylor
9
Dave Berriman
1
Ed Ranns
2
Mark Bradley
3
John Tindale
4
Matty Sayer
5
Kieron Avis
6
Jonathan Deighton
7
Dan Young
8
Rhys Powell (Captain)

Replacements

16
Nic McGoay (2nd half for Andy Oxenham)
17
Dan Holden (on for Seaham after 30 mins)
18
Mark Berriman (whole game for Seaham)
19
Tom Davies (whole game for Seaham)

Physiotherapist
None

Referee
Robert Sunley Saez (Durham Referees Society)

A crushing 64-7 (10 tries to 1) win for City 3rds (the Cherrypickers) against a plucky Seaham 2nds who competed well especially up-front in the first half and before injury forced them down to 14 players early in the second half. However the talents of those who included centre Grant Thompson, out-half Iain Taylor and loose-head Ed Ranns could not be denied except perhaps for Man of the Match flanker Dan Young.

City helped Seaham’s numbers with Mark Berriman and Tom Davies being drafted into their pack before the start of the game. City kicked off towards the Maiden Castle on the well-grassed and relatively dry second pitch of Hollow Drift on a calm day that was ideal for rugby. As the kick went out on the full it gave Seaham the opportunity to go through some phases and make ground following their put in at the scrum on half-way. The passage of play ended with a Seaham knock-on just outside the City 22. Out-half Iain Taylor’s kick for position was returned but like City’s start it went out on the full to give City a line-out outside the Seaham 22. City caught the throw and set up a drive that gave the home side a penalty which took play to the Seaham five metre line for a City line-out. Another catch and drive let scrum-half Dave Berriman dart for the line and go over by the posts for a try that he somehow failed to convert but nevertheless it gave City a 5-0 lead with barely ten minutes gone.

The next quarter of an hour belonged to Seaham as they penned City deep in their own half threatening the City line with driven line-out catches and individual carries towards the line. City defended this pressure well - Ed Ranns notably putting in three successive classic tackles in one defensive play - and finally the home side got out of their half with a searing break by Iain Taylor from City scrum ball on their own ten metre line and evading some less than robust tackles he made it all the way to the line for a try converted by Dave Berriman that gave City a flattering 12-0 lead after 25 minutes.

Ed Ranns’ take and carry of the re-start to halfway was followed by a longish delay whilst an injured Seaham forward was attended to before leaving the field to be replaced by City’s replacement Dan Holden. Despite this disruption Seaham maintained their competitive play at breakdowns and scrummage and they continued to play the game in City’s half with City’s forwards not making much progress as their offloading was restricted and their passing game not featuring. This changed five minutes before half-time when an impressive carry by second row Matty Sayer found Iain Taylor in support and once again he ran almost half the length of the field to score another converted try stretching City’s lead to 19-0.

Almost immediately from the re-start the ball was taken and driven by the forwards then released for Grant Thompson to run aggressively and evasively to run in another converted score from a deep position. So with City playing out most of what remained of the first 40 minutes in their own half, their lead of 26-0 meant that they were not going to lose the game.

At half-time City made their last available change with Nic McGoay coming on for Andy Oxenham and allowing him to test the shoulder he injured some months previously.

A converted try by captain and No.8 Rhys Powell five minutes into the second half after a Dave Berriman break was well-supported by Grant Thompson took the score to 33-0. This and another Seaham injury that meant they played the rest of the game with 14 men, conspired to let City score another five tries almost at will except for Seaham getting a well-deserved 7 pointer reply in between. The first, a converted try by Matty Sayer after being set up by Nic McGoay and the next by right wing Chris Cowie after some of the best left to right three-quarter passing of the game. The third was a Grant Thompson walk-in that followed Nic McGoay’s catch of Seaham’s kick out of defence ; then followed Seaham’s try that was just reward for their direct play and commitment. Iain Taylor then completed his hat-trick with a third run from deep - a try he converted beautifully from wide on the left - before Dave Berriman scored his second to book-end the game. His missed conversion saw the game called to a halt five minutes early as referee Robert Sunley Saez - a 3rd year Civil Engineering student at Durham University whose home Club is Hull Ionians - sympathetically saved Seaham from further punishment.

This was a game won emphatically by City that was also a case of what might have been for Seaham who were unfortunate to be handicapped by injury that disrupted their line-out - a disadvantage that Dan Young, literally ably supported by his ‘lifters’, exploited - and also reduced their numbers without detriment to their scrummaging and counter-rucking. All retired to the Clubhouse happily where Seaham’s pride wearing their club ties out-did City’s turn-out.

City scorers :
Iain Taylor - three tries and one conversion
Dave Berriman - two tries and six conversions
Grant Thompson - two tries
Chris Cowie - one try
Rhys Powell - one try
Matty Sayer - one try

The result brings the Cherrypickers’ record for season to ;

P3 W3 D0 L0 PF131 PA33

Stewart Eddie
Monday 06 January 2020