Bramley Phoenix 52 v Barnard Castle 21 (after extra-time)
Late cup exit after extra-time

Having pipped Leeds Corinthians in the previous round Barney were drawn away to another Leeds club, Bramley Phoenix, in the quarter final of the Papa John Community Shield. Their opponents also play in the Counties 2 Yorkshire league and finished a place above Leeds Corinthians this season, so Castle knew they would be in for another keenly contested encounter.

Once again Castle were quickly out of the blocks and early pressure led to a penalty, which Sam Errington duly converted, 0-3. Bramley hit back almost immediately when a quick tap penalty led to a try, which was converted to give the home side a 7-3 lead.

Barney continued to press with strong carries by James Peareth, Jack Tobbell and Oscar Usher and on 25 minutes it was Usher who brushed aside tackles to charge over for the try from the edge of the Bramley 22. With Sam Errington comfortably slotting the conversion Castle led 7-10.

Castle dominated possession in the run up to half-time, but couldn’t add to their tally and they went into the half-time break with a 7-10 lead.
The start of the second half saw Barney still in the ascendency and a high hit on Oscar Usher saw Errington step up to land another penalty and he repeated the trick a few minutes later to extend the lead to 7-16. Bramley were quick to hit back, however, and a quickly taken penalty saw them touch down in the corner and with their excellent kicker nailing the conversion the gap had narrowed to 14-16.

Bramley were enjoying their best spell of the game and with 10 minutes to go another tap penalty saw them secure the try and once again the excellent conversion saw them establish what looked like a winning lead at 21-16.

Just like the previous week, however, Castle had belief they could still win the game and mounted a series of attacks. Eventually Luke Cowley got his hands on the ball in space and brushed-off the tackles to claim the try. In another echo of the previous week it looked as if, with only a minute or so remaining, a successful conversion would seal the game for Barney.

With Errington having had to limp of with an injury a few minutes earlier, James Barber stepped up to take the conversion. With the crowd holding its breath the conversion unfortunately went narrowly wide. But a Bramley player had, un-sportingly, shouted as James prepared to kick and the referee ordered the kick to be re-taken. Unfortunately for Barney the outcome was the same.

Unbelievably, there was still time left for the re-start and Barney immediately ran the ball back into the Bramley 22 to press for the winning score. Bramley infringed and the referee awarded the penalty to Castle. This was to be the last play of the game and once again Barber stepped up to kick the points, but unfortunately his effort went just wide, again, and the referee blew his whistle to take the game into the dreaded extra-time.

Both sides were tired and mistakes were inevitable and it was Bramley who took the initiative with a try by their centre and another successful conversion to give them a 28-21 lead. With a tiring Barney now chasing the game Bramley were able to capitalise and a penalty and then an interception, which saw their lead grow to 38-21.

As the final whistle neared, the hosts were able to run in a couple of late scores to give them a comfortable margin of victory to give an unfair picture on the scoreboard, as Castle could have won the game and probably had the better of things during normal time.
Having been eliminated from the Cup Barney would like to wish Bramley well in the next round. Next Saturday will see Barney paying tribute to the late Dave Bottoms with games starting at 2.30 pm on the Demesnes.

Nick Raper