Siddal NCL open 2017 home campaign with solid victory ..........................

Siddal swept to a fairly comprehensive victory running in 8 tries in a 48-12 win over newly promoted Skirlaugh. The 2016 Champions opened up in determined mood and had posted a 12-0 lead within just 5 minutes. On their very first set Siddal advanced the full length of the field through strong running props Iain Davies and Jack Georgiou and after the latter had broken through the Skirlaugh line he offloaded to the supporting Shaun Garrod who turned the ball back inside to Baz Smith to touchdown at the side of the posts. Gareth Blackburn began a perfect kicking game with the conversion. On the restart Siddal again made good ground through their back row of Ben Hinsley,Tom Garratt and Smith. The French referee, Monsieur Poumes, penalised Skirlaugh for holding down and on the next set Georgiou once again made a terrific break and on the back of the next play, with Skirlaugh in retreat, the ball was transferred quickly by Garrod, fullback Freddie Walker and centre Joe Martin to right wing Ben West to score in the corner. Blackburn added a terrific conversion from the touchline.

Skirlaugh were looking down the barrel but aided by some indifferent decisions from Mr Poumes, who penalised Siddal twice in a row whilst they were in possession, the visitors came back into the game a bit and forced a couple of line drop outs from under the posts by Siddal. However they couldn't quite penetrate the home side's defence and it came as no surprise when Siddal went upfield and scored their third try just before the half hour mark. 30 metres from the Skirlaugh try line skipper Garrod attracted two defenders and slipped another inside pass to substitute Jack Matthews who made a half break then in the tackle offloaded superbly to the supporting Sean McCormack who forced his way to the line to score by the posts. Blackburn added goal number three to stretch Siddal's lead to 18-0. The final ten minutes of the half became very messy as both sides forced Mr Poumes to blow too much whistle. Skirlaugh did though notch a try after a small spell of pressure. A fine grubber kick close to Siddal's try line by halfback Carl Puckering was pounced on by his scrum half Harvey Gotts for an all too easy try. Puckering added the goal to give Skirlaugh a glimmer of hope for the second half as the half ended 18-6 in favour of Siddal.

Any hopes Skirlaugh had of threatening Siddal were extinguished by the home side who ran in three more tries in fifteen minutes straight after the half time break. In their first set great runs by Davies, hooker Craig Sanderson and debutant Anthony Bowman took Siddal deep into Skirlaugh's half and on the final play Garrod threw out a fine long and high pass to left wing Blackburn who caught the ball high above his head and finished off in style. Blackburn added goal number four and within 10 minutes had added two more as Siddal stepped up a gear to score two further tries. The first of these tries, Siddal's fifth of the afternoon, was set up superbly by powerful second row Tom Garratt who pierced the Skirlaugh line in centre field, then drew the full back and passed to the supporting Freddie Walker who just had enough pace to outsprint the chasing defenders to score. And Garratt then turned scorer as he followed a neat half break by Garrod close to the Skirlaugh try line and collected the pass from his skipper touchdown by the posts. At 36-6 Siddal had the two league points tucked away.

There followed another 10 minute spell where both sides felt the wrath of the referee who didn't allow the game to flow. But once Siddal returned to holding onto the ball they added tries number seven and eight in the final 10 minutes. George Ambler followed a trademark McCormack dummy and break down the middle of the pitch, the substitute hooker drew the fullback and picked his moment to pass to Ambler who ran unopposed to score right beneath the posts and give Blackburn an easy 7th conversion. And it was that man Blackburn who finished off Siddal's try scoring with arguably the try of the game. After a routine set bringing the ball back from their own line and midway in the Siddal half, Garrod decided not to kick but to move the ball on the final play, his long pass hit Blackburn just right and he sped down the left touchline for 50 metres before superbly sidestepping the Skirlaugh fullback and scoring his second try of the game close to the points. The same player added goal number 8 to register a fine, personal points tally of 24.

Skirlaugh grabbed a small consolation that their effort deserved in the closing minutes. Hard working forward Scott Mountain broke through from short range to touch down and Gotts duly added the simple conversion to complete the scoring for the afternoon.

A 48-12 scoreline is one you would take before the game but the overall performance was patchy. There were good performances from Davies, Georgiou and Matthews in the forwards whilst Garrod had a hand in six of the eight tries and Blackburn enjoyed a memorable game.