Northern RFC 31 - 20 Sheffield RUFC
Starting Line Up - 5th October 2013
15. Jimmy Pearson
14. James Twomey
13. Ben Shore
12. Simon Tillyer (Capt)
11. Alistair Womack
10. Rob Holland
9. Rob Sturman
1. Tommy Marples
2. Max Goodall
3. Ali Walls
4. Steve Pearson
5. Dave Ellis
6. Andy Kelly
7. Tom Womack
8. Mark Walker
Replacements
16. Chris (Viking) Stanney
17. Ben Whitney
18. Danny Bearman
Sheffield’s troubles continue and with five matches behind us we have little or nothing to show for all our efforts. Sheffield’s troubles were heightened when original selection was up set by the withdrawal of front row Jared Parkinson and centre Matt Hunt-Brown. They were replaced with Ali Walls at tight head prop and Jimmy Pearson coming in at full back and Ben Shore moving to outside centre; finally Chris (Viking) Stanney replaced Ali Walls on the bench.
The match started well for Sheffield with left wing Ali Womack scoring wide out on the left after just 2 minutes, however, fly half Rob Holland failed to add the conversion. Sheffield continued to have the better of the exchanges, but would be greatly undone very much by their own errors. Northern kicked deep to touch, Ali Womack took a quick throw and Jimmy Pearson found touch for Sheffield on half way. Northern line was disrupted and they lost ground almost to their own 22, but having recovered their full back, Paddy Fisher, broke down the right wing, he chipped the defence and while Sheffield’s defence stood watching in admiration he recollected the ball and as he was brought to ground he managed to off-load to outside centre Graham Jardine who scored just to the left of the posts. Jardine added the conversion to his own try and took the lead at 7 points to 5. Sheffield looked somewhat shocked and immediately handed the initiative back to Northern when Rob Holland’s restart went straight out. Sheffield gave away two quick penalties and Northern progressed well. However, Sheffield recovered and gained a penalty of their own for Rob Holland to force Northern back into defence. A well worked move from the resulting line out gave Sheffield a 3 man overlap on the right which should have resulted in a try, however, someone decided that rather than put the ball throw the hands a big missed move was called for. The result was an interception by the Northern full back and despite the desperate efforts of James Twomey and Ali Womack he was able to score just out to the left of the posts. Jardine failed with the conversion, but Sheffield had conceded12 of the easiest points any of their opponents had ever gained with barely 12 minutes gone. Matters could have got much worse when Sheffield were penalised almost straight in front of the posts, but Jardine managed to push his effort wide on 16 minutes.
Sheffield again began to get to the fore, particularly in the backs and on 20 minutes Ali Womack was put away again to score his second try, again wide out on the left. Rob Holland again could not add the conversion, but the arrears had been reduced to 12 points to 10 and were well back in contention. Sheffield were beginning to get well on top, until that is an injury to hooker Max Goodall on 27 minutes led to a very long stoppage with Max Having to be carried from the field and ferried off to hospital. The stoppage obviously affected Sheffield much more than Northern and just a few minutes after the recommencement Sheffield knocked on at a scrum, the referee played advantage and Northern’s inside centre, Alex Clarke, emerged from the resulting ruck running straight through the assembled Sheffield defence from half way to score under the posts. Jardine added the conversion and Sheffield trailed by 19 points to 10. Two minutes later Sheffield were awarded a penalty and the advantage of Northern’s fullback Fisher being yellow carded for killing the ball. Unfortunately Rob Holland could not convert the opportunity and the score remained unchanged with the half petering out without any further score.
The second half saw Northern making much more use of their pack forcing Sheffield more onto the back foot. Sheffield’s Dave Ellis was deemed to have made a late tackle on a Northern player and former Sheffield fly half Donal Collins, now playing with Northern, pushed Sheffield back to their own 5 metre line. At the resulting line out, second row Steve Pearson was adjudged to have pulled the maul down and was yellow carded for his efforts. Northern took full advantage and scored a push over try wide out on the left and Jardine made the difficult conversion to make the score 26 points to 10 after 46 minutes. Five minutes later Sheffield made a scintillating break down the right only to be punched into touch when Northern’s second row applied a forearm smash to the side of his head. The referee awarded a penalty, but no other sanction followed for what was a serious piece of foul play. Sheffield battled on and I’m sure still believed that victory was possible and when James Twomey scored out right of the posts having left in floundering in his wake. On this occasion it was Jimmy Pearson was unable to add the conversion and the score remained at 26 points to 15.
Unfortunately, Sheffield soon found themselves again down to 14 men with Dave Ellis receiving a yellow card, but none of the assembled masses knew for what. Northern took full advantage of the man advantage and scored their second push over try, again wide out on the left. The conversion was missed, but again |Northern had pushed their lead out of immediate reach at 31 points to 15 after 65 minutes. Sheffield upped their game once more and after Northern received their second yellow card, Ben Shore, now playing at full back, showed great strength and determination to riddle over for Sheffield’s fourth try to the left of the posts. Rob Holland was again on kicking duty, but unfortunately Sheffield’s luck on the kicking front did not improve and northern still led by 31 points to 20 after 73 minutes. No further score was managed by either side and Sheffield had suffered their fifth defeat of the campaign.