1 – L Clayton
2 – R Hilton
3 – M Thornton
4 – C Corkin (Capt)
5 – P Craggs
6 – L Baldwin
7 – L Johnson
8 – B Harrington
9 – M Lloyd
10 – O Bulley
11 – R Miles
12 – P Gorman
13 – A Simpson
14 – H Woolfe
15 – P Howe

Finishers
16 – S Groom
17 – B Wright
18 – L Connor

Brigade kicked off on an excellent pitch and soon had a penalty after great work by Thornton at the breakdown. A kick into Horden’s 22 was wasted as the resulting lineout wasn’t straight but from the scrum Brigade showed what will be a huge strength this year by driving the Horden pack off the ball to win a penalty. Bulley kicked the 3 points to put Brigade in the lead.
The early play started to take shape with Brigade looking strong in the pack and Horden looking to utilise the pace in their backs and it was after 10 minutes that Horden got their breakthrough. A penalty near halfway allowed the 9 to go quick and move the ball wide. The full back joined the line at pace and found his winger to score in the corner. Conversion missed 3 – 5 Horden.
Horden repeated the trick after 20 minutes again moving the ball wide with pace to score a carbon copy try for 3 – 10.
On 25 minutes Brigade hit back. A huge drive at scrum time in Horden’s 22 saw Hilton take the ball against the head. Liam Johnson broke away and showed great hands to offload to Bulley. Bulley found Ashley Simpson in support and he showed great strength to crash over the line. Bulley converted and it was 10 – 10.
Sadly, Brigade conceded again on the stroke of half time. Horden withstood more pressure at scrum time to move the ball wide and score their 3rd try of the half. This time the conversion was added and it was 10 – 17 after 40 minutes.
Into the second half and Horden stretched their lead taking advantage of a disorganised Brigade defence from a quick penalty to go 10 – 22 ahead.
Brigade quickly regathered themselves and showed tremendous attitude and commitment and on 50 minutes got right back in the game. Again, it came from another huge scrum on Horden ball. Marcus Lloyd (making his debut at 9) was able to bravely turnover messy ball from the base of the scrum and Brad Harrington made a charge for the line only to be hauled down short. Rob Hilton was on hand to take the quickly recycled ball under the posts to allow Johnson a simple conversion and it was 17 – 22.
At this point the game was in the balance but the home side had the advantage of a much bigger squad of players to call upon, Several pairs of fresh legs allowed the hosts to score on 65 and 75 minutes to take the game away from Brigade.
This was an excellent effort in our first proper game of rugby in nearly 18 months. Credit to the front row of Thornton Hilton and Clayton who dominated at scrum time and saw off several opposition front row combinations. Brigades man of the match was Marcus Lloyd who excelled at scrum half showing tremendous commitment, bravery and skill throughout.
Thanks to Horden for a superb afternoon and fantastic post match hospitality and we look forward to welcoming you to the Friarage and The Cosmopolitan later in the season.