Bridlington 20 - 20 Sheffield

Bridlington 20 - 20 Sheffield

Team Selection - 16th April 2011

15. Nick Cook
14. James Montgomery
13. Joe Cribley
12. Ryan Amos
11. Alex Hill
10. Donal Collins
9. Matthew Poste

1. Tommy Marples
2. Carl Mortimer
3. Chris Machen
4. Dave Ellis
5. Tom White
6. Laurence Thomas
7. Martin Balshaw
8. Andy Kelly ……..… (Capt)

16. Nick Tomsett
17. John Dudley
18. Ewan Reed

Sheffield saw John Dudley return from his trip to Dubai to take up a place on the replacements bench. Joe Cribley also returned to the team at outside centre, Ewan Reed dropped to the bench with both Tom Womack and Tom Metcalf dropping out of the squad. Our referee was Bill Burton from Nott’s, Linc’s and Derbyshire Society.

Sheffield started the slightly brighter of the two teams and wee soon awarded a penalty for Bridlington being off their feet at the breakdown and although the kick to touch gave Sheffield good field position the ball was turned over and Bridlington were able to clear their lines. A few minutes later Bridlington broke through the Sheffield defence when a tackle was missed and in scrambling back to defend we were deemed to have strayed off-side, but Bridlington’s attempt to make touch went astray and Sheffield were back on the attack. Less than two minutes later Sheffield had a kickable penalty which unfortunately Donal Collins could not convert. This was not to be Donal’s day with the boot.

A short time later, with Bridlington on the charge inside the Sheffield half, a long missed pass was intercepted by Joe Cribley who almost escaped the clutches of the Bridlington defence. However, in the melee that followed Bridlington were deemed to have been off-side. Sheffield went for touch and from the line out Joe Cribley kicked cleverly through to pin Bridlington deep in their 22. From the line out Bridlington very soon turned the ball over to Sheffield and after a short but concerted attack, second row Tom White crashed over for the first score just to the right of the posts. Donal Collins converted and Sheffield had a 7 point to nil lead after 15 minutes.

However, shortly after the restart and as has happened on too many occasions this season, Sheffield found themselves under pressure from their own silly errors and lack of concentration and with 19 minutes on the clock Bridlington were awarded a penalty almost directly in front of the posts, which was sweetly struck by scrum half Stephen Mellonby to reduce the deficit to 3 points to 7.

Although Sheffield substantially dominated the remainder of the half, they were unable through mostly through their own errors, but with some stern defence from Bridlington, to break down the defence and draw away from their opponents, that is until the 44th minutes of the first half, when Donal Collins managed to convert a penalty from an off-side at the scrum to increase the lead to 10 points to 3, having missed two other penalties on 26 and 30 minutes. Our referee then decide we should take a break with 47 minutes on the clock.

Sheffield came out from the break and immediately powered into the Bridlington 22 after an unforced error from the Bridlington full back. A short period of concerted pressure followed with several scrums each resulting in a penalty to Sheffield until the referee awarded the penalty try for their number 8 interfering in the scrum, moving the lead out to 17 points to 3 with 4 minutes of the half played. From this moment all reality seems to have left Queensgate. Bridlington to their credit came out swinging and were up for the battle and series of runs by their backs pushed Sheffield back. However, there did not seem to be any danger until, when on 14 minutes they surged through the defence in a move involving at least two forward passes of meteoric proportions which went unseen by the official and after some scrambled, but ineffective defence, Waines the Bridlington second row went over for a score, which Mellonby could not convert, but reduced the deficit to 8 points to 17.

Two minutes later, Donal Collins had a further opportunity to add to the score with a penalty 30 metre out just to the right, but on this occasion the kick was hooked wide to the left. John Dudley was brought into the game at the expense of Tom White at this point in time, but Bridlington came back strongly and used there backs to good effect to burst into and through the Sheffield defence and with 23 minutes of the half gone broke through decisively when centre Stirk received a pass, which he knocked on in the manner of a basket ball player, but again our referee must have been unsighted, for no admonishment was dealt out and a few seconds later the score was 13 points to 17 and with a simple conversion to come Bridlington increase there tally to 15 points.

Just a few minutes later however, after some good driving from the Sheffield pack, the referee’s hand came out for a penalty, and Donal Collins went for the drop goal, which he secured comfortably to increase the lead to 20 points to 15. Over the next 15 minutes or so both sides had opportunities to score, but none were taken, with Bridlington missing a not too difficult penalty on 30 minutes. Then with the 40 minutes almost elapsed another strange decision came into play. The ball having so very obviously gone out of play from the hand of a Bridlington player, the lineout was awarded to Bridlington, with ball secured they again burst through the Sheffield defence, with again another series of forward passes going unnoticed for a score not too far out on the right. Inexplicably, Bridlington decided to change their kicker and the conversion was missed and the scores were tied at 20 points all.

A further 5 minutes elapsed before Bridlington were awarded a penalty almost directly in-front of the posts following a rash challenge, but once again Bridlington could not convert the opportunity. Then in the dying second Sheffield had an opportunity to snatch the win, the ball being moved smartly through the hands to the right where Sheffield had fashioned an overlap. However, the ball was knocked-on late in the move and the chance was gone. The game eventually ran out of steam with 48 minutes of the second half gone and with neither side being ecstatic about what they had just seen.

Substitutes used were:- John Dudley for Tom White (64) and Ewan Reed for Nick Cook (85). Not used, Nick Tomsett.