Rovers Heughers 43 - 19 Horden 2nds in Candy Shield

Rovers Heughers added the Candy Shield to the Bill Bowden Cup with a convincing win over Horden 2nds. Horden seem to have neglected to bring the Shield with them and we wait to actually get our hands on it but I am sure it will turn up.

With it being a cup final, at home and a nice day we had rather more players available than of late. We were particularly pleased to welcome back players from Afghanistan, the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside and Seaton Carew's second best chippy.

When the game started it was Horden who were first in the ascendancy with their big pack frequently making ground. After about a quarter of an hour they were camped on our line and we we had a 5 metre scrum that we expected to be shunted off. However Danny Charters took off at the back of the scrum with a powerful run that saw him making the halfway line then some lovely handling put Adam Smith away down the touchline for a smashing try converted by Dazz. 7-0. That try was surpassed when several phases of excellent inter-passing again put Adam away and though this time he was held up just short the ball was worked back for Dazz to go over for a try he converted himself to put us 14-0 ahead. Rovers were totally iin control now and added to our tally when captain Darren Smith crashed over for an unconverted try.

HT Rovers Heughers 19 - 0 Horden 2nds

Dazz added a penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over before Kev Stephenson collected a kick and scorched 60 metres through various attempted tackles for an excellent try with Dazz adding the extras. From the restart Darren Smith collected the kick and made ground with Danny Cookland taking the ball on before Alex Rochester streaked over - ending up with a perhaps rather gratuitous dive. Absolutely superb 80 metre try which Dazz made even better by converting from the touchline. We were 36 -0 up and well in control so took the opportunity to empty the bench. This upset our organisation and Horden took advantage with two tries before Davy Carroll rolled back the years with a quickly taken penalty that saw him crash over. Horden got the last try but we ran out worthy winners.

FT Rovers Heughers 43 - 19 Horden 2nds

This was an excellent win over an always strong Horden side. Some of our running and handling was top drawer. We certainly had an advantage in the backs throughout the game and when we had our most settled pack out also had the edge there.

This was a full team performance so no man of the match is given but here is a plug for Danny Charters. Danny is going for a world record of squatting 470,000 kg in 24 hours and broke into his training schedule to have a run out for us. He is doing this for the Smile for a Child charity. If you want to sponsor him please do so here .. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/daniel-charters2

Squad

R Harrison, (Hodgson), A Smith (K Stephenson), Muller, (Doneghan), Buttery (Grand), Swallow (Coxon), Fawcett, Rochester, R Clayton, (Carroll) (Healey), Monaghan (Ross), Cookland, Hanley (Stoddart), D Smith, AJ (Power) (Pip), Charters (Robinson), Lane

Next week we are back to league duty. The fixture list shows we are away to Mowden Park but they didn't travel to us earlier in the season so expect to have the venue reversed. Let's continue to get good numbers out and see where we end up in the league