South Shields 23-45 Seaham

The game started with Shields taking advantage of early ball possession putting Seaham under constant pressure leading to two early penalties converted by the impressive flyhalf Steven Waddle.

Shields scrum proved to be once again the power house of the two sides. Excellent scrumming by front row Kristian Summerside, Grant Borrill and Steven Lockney supported by the locks Chris Wann and Jordan Wright put Seaham under all sorts of pressure which to their credit managed to absorbe.

Seahams’ line outs were uncontested allowing them free rein to send their backs on attack. Captain Dan McKay made defensive changes moving the teams energy machine Scott Gillies to the back on Seaham throws that proved brilliant as he stopped the Seaham 10 in his tracks every time.

Many High tackles gave the official no choice but to send Lockney to the sin bun for ten.

Anthony Kail at 9 proved he was van der Merwes first choice at scrum half. He went over for Shields first try in the second half after a smart pick and offload from Gillies. His defence, attack and ball supply was fantastic.

Seaham put most their points on in the first half and capitalised on Shields’ missed tackles and sometimes lazy running back to form the defensive line.

Shields came back in the second half looking like a more organised squad and showed good structured forward play giving the backs room to stretch their legs.

Waddle controlled the little ball he had and once again freeing up the power house Daniel Whitelaw who was well supported by Lee Bell.

Marcus Colborne proved his weight in gold at 15 who managed to assist Shields’ second try after cleverly joining the forwards in an attacking maul with Stephen Waddle touching down.

Dan McKay scored the third and final try after an excellent break from the scrum. McKay picking from the base and Kail running an attacking decoy saw a huge gap open for McKay who charged 30 meters to dot the ball down.

The game was played in good spirit and sportsmanship and ended with Seaham being victorious 45 points to 23.

Debutant Fred Waddingham at 6 played his first game for Shields and proved a force to be reckoned with.

The two wings Brandon Livingstone and Ryan Dowens had little ball to run with but defended well stopping Seahams’ backs from breaking through.

Shields will go back to the drawing board and plan a game structure that starts from kick off as the last few games have shown that they tend to come to light in the second half of their matches.