WELCOME It gives me great pleasure to welcome Gateshead back to Acklam Park, a relatively new Club, being formed in 1998 following the merger of North Durham RFC and Gateshead Fell RFC, both of which we played regularly in the far off days of yesteryear. We last met Gateshead in season 2011/12, when we both ended up in league N1E, but for different reasons; we'd been relegated from National 3 North whilst Gateshead were promoted from D/N 1 with a terrific record, having 121 points from 24 victories and 25 bonus points, scoring 1362 points in the process. We suffered different fates however; we won both our encounters, 51-14 here and 32-17 at Eastwood Gardens, to end up fourth in the final table whilst our visitors finished second bottom. Last season although Gateshead finished in sixth place with 14 wins and a draw, they scored an impressive 942 points, second only to league champions Guisborough.

Our visitors began this season by beating Bishop Auckland 43-11 at home in the Durham Intermediate Cup, and thereby began a sequence I'm sure they'll be seeking to reverse today – winning at home but losing on their travels, They started their league campaign with a defeat at Stockton and have also lost at Durham City, Acklam and Consett. However the result at City must have left Gateshead shattered – they were leading 10-25 going into the last ten minutes, only to concede three tries, two conversions and a penalty to lose 32-25. At home they have beaten Gosforth, Darlington and on Saturday Horden and are currently lying in seventh place.

LEAGUE RUGBY I have referred (just once or twice!) to the promising number of Colts we've been able to introduce into the 1st team these past two seasons, but they haven't been thrown in at the deep end, they've been carefully integrated so their youthful enthusiasm complements some grizzled experience – for example at Ryton we had Jake Schofield on the wing but the combined ages of our Nos 8, 9 and 10 was 108 years. And then against Stockton we had three of the Colts featuring alongside the young Sam Gaudie on his return from his exploits in Canadian rugby, whilst we were able to include the hard-nosed experience of Chris 'the Crusher' Horton in the front row. Local derbies are always competitive affairs fraught with tension, and true to form Stockton scored first, never gave up despite us then scoring six tries, and added the final seven points at the very end – seven points which knocked us of the top of the table. We crossed three times in the first half, with Bellers finishing off a break by Rhys, Toby plunging over and Conner thrilling us with one of his typical darting runs. After the break Rhys scythed through for the bonus point before Bellers added to his tally and Richie wrenched the ball from a maul and sprinted 30m before collapsing over the line!

We did not fare so well at Gosforth last week. Although we scored two tries to none it's fair to say it wasn't our best performance; against a team with a very good kicker (four penalties and three drop goals) we conceded three first half kicks to go 12-0 down. Bellers crossed twice and Simon, returning from his stint with England Police against Australia Police (score 18-21) and substituting the injured Andy Micklewright, who in turn was filling Sam Gaudie's spot, added a conversion and two penalties to take the lead but Gosforth forced their way back to 18-18 before grabbing the win with a last gasp drop goal. Despite not being at our best, we still could have won, as two try-scoring opportunities went a begging, one when we knocked-on over the line and the other when we failed to catch a pass with the line at our mercy. C'est la vie. I hope we can make amends today.

OTHER MATCHES Sadly a fortnight ago the Wasps lost their unbeaten record in a friendly game against CANDY table-toppers Darlington Mowden Park, but not without a fight. We scored the first try and we scored the last try, and at half time we were leading 12-10 but a purple patch for Mowden saw them score three tries in quick succession to run out 26-36 winners. More details are in Jonno's match report elsewhere in this edition.

The Wasps returned to winning ways last week against Consett. It was quite a team we fielded, really big on experience and ability with the Brothers Horton in the front row, joined – albeit reluctantly! - by Geoffrey Boycott's love-child, the one, the only Tilly, complemented by the youth of Jay Ellis. A penalty try gave us a 19-0 lead at half time and we went on to score five more tries to win 48-5, a score which gives the team a nice round record of points for 200, against 100.

The 'A' team lost at Billingham but the Colts chalked up their opening success in a very close game against Pocklington at Acklam Park. Not only did the visitors' forwards look bigger than our lads, so did their backs, and they moved the ball around at pace. Nevertheless our team stuck to their task, tackled like tigers and sped through any gap which appeared. Pocklington scored a try on the stroke of half time to take a 7 points to 8 lead, but after the break we crossed the line, just failing with the conversion, whereas our opponents added the conversion when they scored to edge ahead 12-15. It was a grandstand end to end contest, which we won 17-15 with a late try and then closing down the game in a way which England never managed.

JUNIORS There was an impressive set of results last weekend, with the U14s being only losing team (playing Malton & Norton). The U16s were on Cup duty and were the only team away from home, beating Ripon 5-3. The U15s beat Wensleydale 55-21 to add to their impressive record. Having lost their opening game at West Park Leeds the only other reversal was 22-12 against Hull Ionians in the Cup, a team who have been finalists the past three years. The U17s met my alma mater, Blyth RFC, but showing no compassion whatsoever, they topped the half century of points. And then on Monday, thanks to John O'Boyle, we hosted a successful U10s Catholic Schools rugby festival – great stuff.

I mentioned previously that Tom Seymour has been on the sponsorship trail to raise money for kit for the U15s, and promised you more information. The sponsor was Steve Sawdon of IIC Technologies Ltd, part of the IIC Technologies Group, which is one of the world’s leading geospatial services businesses specialising in the capture, maintenance and presentation of geospatial data for the marine, land and aeronautical environments. It employs over 2,000 geospatial specialists. Through the IIC Academy they promote the dissemination of geospatial knowledge and offer knowledge transfer and capacity building services for organisations throughout the world. Our thanks to Steve for his welcome support.

SPONSORS Middlesbrough Senior Colts are sponsoring today's game in memory of their friend and supporter Barry Emmerson, who died recently, aged 80. Barry was an inspiration to all who met him; a true gentleman who effused energy and enthusiasm for other people and for life. Barry will be remembered not just for the marvellous deeds he did himself but for the deeds he brought out in other people. A founder of the Park Run series in Middlesbrough, he got our full squad running...a lover of good natured banter and a sausage sandwich connoisseur, he got our full squad smiling...a 'Rugby Tour Virgin' at the age of 80, he got our full squad singing. Barry possessed that all too rare gift of always seeing the positives and opportunity in every situation. He always put the well-being of others before himself; he always embraced sportsmanship and unconditional respect for opponents; he always encouraged us to give it everything we had and never to give up. Those are lessons that will always stay with us. So please join with the Senior Colts and their families today as we raise our glasses to a truly magnificent friend and companion.

REFEREE'S CORNER It gives me great pleasure to welcome Mike Dickinson back to Acklam Park; although he has not been here before as a referee he has played here in the centre for Huddersfield YMCA. Mike is a Tynesider who originally played at Westoe and then for Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, where he trained as a teacher before moving to Huddersfield. He took up the whistle about 12 years ago and I hope he enjoys his time with us this afternoon.

Remember, remember, our Fantastic Fireworks Display a week on Thursday