Team
1 – M Thornton
2 – C Watson
3 – I Scott
4 – J Keir
5 – C Corkin (c)
6 – H Hay
7 – J McGrath
8 – B Harrington
9 – T Craggs
10 – K Mullander
11 – L Wolfe
12 – A Ainsley
13 – K Sanderson
14 – H Wolfe
15 – G Williams

Subs
16 – M Hart
17 – A Davies
18 – H Craggs
19 – O Bulley
20 – L Wallis
21 – L Hornsey
22 – S Smailes
Brigade made the short trip up West View Road to the New Friarage to take on Rovers Hughers in a league and cup double header.
With Brigade holding the upper hand in recent fixtures Rovers set out their intentions with both first team captain, Shane Jeffrey and top try scorer James Keers named in the starting line-up, while the familiar figure of former Brigade prop and coach Lee Clayton lurked on the bench.
Rovers started the game strongly taking the game to Brigade and looking to move the ball to the dangerous Keers as quickly as possible but solid Brigade defence held out with Luke Wolfe catching the eye with several excellent tackles.
Rovers eventually took the lead in the 21st minute with a well worked try by Bramfitt in the right hand corner with Lloyd adding an impressive conversion for 7 – 0.
Brigade barely had time to recover before Rovers launched a carbon copy attack with Keers going over in the exact same spot to stretch the lead to 12 – 0 after 24 minutes.
This score seemed to kick Brigade into life and Brad Harrington was unlucky not to score after a powerful surge took him over the line but he was held up after Rovers had conceded several penalties to give Brigade a good spell of possession and territory.
Brigade did eventually get over the try line through Luke Wolfe. Again, Rovers were guilty of conceding penalties and after a few forward crashes the ball was moved along the line where Wolfe proved to rapid for the covering defender. Corkin was wide with the conversion and it was 12 – 5 at half time.
Brigade started the second half on the front foot and reduced the arrears further in the 43rd minute. A clever box kick and chase from scrum half Craggs had Lee Clayton back tracking towards his own try line. As the young Craggs bared down on him Clayton panicked and knocked the ball on giving Brigade an attacking scrum 5 yards out. A strong drive allowed Harrington to make a burst for the line but he was stopped inches short. Quick rucking allowed Craggs to move the ball to Kev Mullander and he burst through a gap to score. Corkin hit the post with the conversion and it was 12 – 10.
Rovers then took the game away from Brigade in the following 10 minutes thanks to a quick fire double from the impressive Keers. With one conversion the score was 24 – 10.
Brigade where then reduced to 14 men as Joe McGrath saw yellow for reacting to a high tackle inside our 22. The referee reversed his penalty decision and Rovers ran the ball with Dixon receiving the final pass to score out wide. The conversion was added by Lloyd and it was 31 – 10.
Brigade refused to lie down and got their 3rd try of the day through the evergreen Jonnie Kier. A messy lineout on the Rovers 5 metre line was tided up by Luke Wallis before Luke Hornsey made a charge to line. He was stopped short but Kier was on hand to make the last few inches to score. Bulley was wide with the kick and it was 31 – 15.
Brigade did cross the try line with the last play of the game through Matty Thornton but the ref adjudged the final pass as forward (he obviously wasn’t watching France v Ireland on Thursday) and the game was ended.
Brigade can be proud of their efforts against a strong Heughers side. Man of the Match for Brigade was Luke Wolfe who was excellent in both attack and defence. A well earned Sunday lunch at the world famous Cosmopolitan Hotel awaits.
Brigade are at home to Horden & Peterlee next week.

Hartlepool B.B.O.B. RFC

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