Barnard Castle 29 v Seaham 14
Bonus point win in the pouring rain

Barney hosted old friends Seaham on a miserable, wet afternoon where the relentless rainfall became progressively worse as the game went on. With 3 props unavailable Castle’s front-row had a very different appearance, with James Peareth and Charles Garland stepping into the breach from their usual positions in the second row and number 8.

Barney were quick to get off the mark as they pressured the Seaham defence and a poor clearance kick went straight to young Harry Parker and he ran in unopposed for the try. With the difficult conversion missed Barney led, 5-0.

Barney were enjoying the lions-share of possession, but the constant rain meant that they were struggling to play their usual expansive game, as the slippery ball was proving so difficult to handle. Their pressure was eventually rewarded when, following a maul close to the Seaham line, Ben Parker was able to drive over for the score. With Ralph Makepeace landing the difficult conversion the lead had grown to 12-0.
As half time approached a spilt ball in the Seaham half was hacked forward and Jack Worley won the race to touch the ball down and claim the try to give Castle a 17-0 lead at the break.

With the benefit of the slope in the second half Seaham began to make their advantage at the scrum tell, but Barney’s defence was effective and they managed to hold the ball up over the line and clear their lines from the resulting drop-out.

Eventually, Seaham’s early second half pressure brought reward, as they managed to drive over for the try from an attacking scrum on the Barney 22-metre line, 17-7.

With player/ coach Sam Errington pulling the strings Castle were quick to regain the initiative as a well-placed chip over the Seaham defence found Luke Cowley in space and he ran in unopposed for the try to claim the bonus-point, 22-7.

Seaham’s scrum dominance continued and resulted in a series of penalties and a yellow-card for a Barney player and Seaham were able to capitalise with the converted try to take the score to 22-14. Barney also lost influential forward Henry Thompson with a nasty cut to his hand.

With time running out young Sam Fairbairn came on in the front row for a first team home debut and as the clock ticked down towards full-time Barney enjoyed their best scrummage of the day, driving Seaham over their try-line to enable skipper Sam Bell to claim the try. With the successful conversion Barney ended the game soaking wet, but happy with a 29-14 win.

The opposition named Sam Errington as the Barney Man of the Match for an excellent game in very difficult conditions. The club would like to thank Jon Raper for his match sponsorship and also bade farewell to Team Manager, Mally Kicks, in his last game in charge after several years of great service. Next week sees Barney with a free weekend and then they travel to Sedgefield the following week. They are not at home again until 23rd March when they host Houghton.

Nick Raper