WHATEVER Tom Rock has had his Blaydon boys doing during their sixweek lay-off it worked wonders as they beat Redruth 42-10, writes TIM WELLOCK.
The visitors remain one place above Blaydon in National One, but after threatening promotion last season they are now apparently questioning the wisdom of such long trips at this level. They travelled by coach and expected to arrive home at 5am.
Blaydon secretary Jim Huxley said: “We were brilliant. We always had people on either side of the ball carrier and the handling was outstanding.”
Huxley made lock Chris Wearmouth his man of the match, but added that two-try flanker Kerry Wood and centre James Fitzpatrick were involved in everything.
Gavin Jones had an excellent game at No 8, while winger Adam Armstrong continued to prove the reliable goal-kicker Blaydon have lacked. He landed two penalties and two of his three conversions were from the touchline.
He also scored a try, while the other winger, Simon Barber, scored the first after good work down the right by Fitzpatrick and Wood. Jones and centre Andrew Baggett scored the other tries.
Blaydon will be without flanker Scott Riddell at London Scottish next week as he has been selected for the Scotland Sevens squad to play in New Zealand and Las Vegas.
Tynedale continued their climb up the table with a 20-17 win at fourthplaced Cambridge, scoring the winning try in the 79th minute after dominating the last quarter.
Left-winger Charlie Ingall scored the clincher, converted by Phil Belgian, who missed two out of three first half penalties as his side went in 10-8 down. Scrum half Dominic Shaw had raced 60 metres for Tynedale’s first half try and they got on top after the break for hooker Joe Graham to touch down.
Cambridge quickly hit back with their third try, but Tynedale’s pressure brought its deserved reward.
Westoe were caught cold after their six-week lay-off as visitors Hull, who had played twice during the freeze, raced into an 11-0 lead and went on to win 23-19.
Westoe began their fightback with two tries in ten minutes from centre James Clark, who sped 40 metres for the second, but Hull scored two tries either side of half-time. Westoe got back on top, but the game was almost over when replacement winger Mark Olugbode scored.
In National Three North, Darlington Mowden Park won 25-15 at home to Birkenhead Park. Despite losing Luke Monument and Howie Murray, the Mowden forwards stood up well to very physical opponents and had too much pace for the visitors.
Mowden took an early lead through the first of full back Dean Kelbrick’s two tries, set up by a Robin Eatough break, and when Kelbrick completed a move which began on halfway they led 15-7 at half-time.
Fly half Richie Young, who also kicked a penalty, landed his second conversion after winger Matty Lister scored his sixth try in six games following a chip by scrum half Andrew Seddon.The visitors scored from a big driving maul before Young added his second penalty.
Billingham, who won 41-0 at Gateshead, went back to the top of North One East when third-placed Hartlepool Rovers did them a favour by toppling previous leaders Sandal.
A penalty at the death by Gareth Foreman gave Rovers a 15-12 win at the Friarage in a game in which they won the try-count 2-0.
Foreman and Michael Barnfield scored the tries and Rovers were never behind but were pegged back by Sandal’s four penalties.
Billingham were hard pressed at Gateshead until prop Kyle Scott broke the line and the resulting penalty gave them the lead.
Fluent rugby followed, but the hosts defended well and the only first half try came when Craig Shepherd raced on to a chip to score.
Lock Brett Wildridge galloped through from 30 meters to touch down straight after the break, then replacement Paul Shepherd sprinted home with his first touch after a longterm injury.
Peter Evans and his brother Mike scored the last two tries, with the No 8 finishing a superb move from a line out, with the backs handling sweetly before the ball came back inside.
Peter Evans converted all five tries and added two penalties.
Durham City eased their relegation worries with a 22-7 win at home to Carlisle and are only a point behind Darlington, who lost 45-8 at Driffield after leading 8-5 at half-time. Winger Danny Anderson finished well after Darlington kept the ball alive through five phases, but they conceded five tries in the last 20 minutes.
Stockton have climbed into promotion contention in Durham and Northumberland One, with a 37-0 win at Ryton leaving them only one point behind second-placed Team Northumbria, who lost at Ashington.
As Stockton are likely to play their rearranged game against Team Northumbria over Easter the students could well be depleted.
It was only 13-0 at half-time at Ryton, but Simon Crozier’s second try sparked a spree, with Rob Green, Dan Youdale and replacement Anthony Parkinson also touching down. Jeremy Good added two penalties and three conversions.
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