WINLATON 1ST XV verses BISHOP AUCKLAND 1ST XV.
Winlaton fielded another weakened side as in the previous week with late cry offs due to work commitments and an injury sustained in the warm ups by Andy Moore.
With an advantage of a strong breeze the visitors attacked Winlaton from the kick off and moved the ball along their ¾ line and poor tackling let a score in near the corner on 2mins(5PTS+ 2PTS) with an excellent conversion from the touchline. For the next 10mins the Vulcans had to stand up to a barrage of attacks by Bishop Auckland but good defence led by Adam FALKNER prevented a further score. Shortly after this the same player made a decisive break and fed ROSS who took the play almost 50 metres into the opposition 22 but lack of support caused the momentum to break down. This led to a period of Winlaton pressure but they failed to convert it into points. On 17 minutes the visitors attacked again and were awarded a penalty which was converted (3PTS) and for the next quarter it was all Bishop Auckland who were dominating the line outs and the scrums but the Winlaton defence again held strong. The visitors broke free again but a try saving tackle on the line by FLEMING prevented another score. On 33 mins another break out by Winlaton nearly gave them a score when a good ball by KANE was won in the lineout and when it was fed to Jason COWLEY who broke through and gained 30 metres only to be stopped short of the line.
HALF TIME 0-10.
Having played into the strong breeze in the first half Winlaton only trailed by 10 points and they began aggressively by using the elements to gain ground into the visitors half. With good ball again secured by Kane in the lineout it was their turn to exert pressure on their opponents but for all their endeavours and effort tries were in short supply. At this stage as well as KANE supplying clean quick ball COWLEY was also prominent in attack and defence supported by FALKNER. After 15 mins Bishop Auckland again began a period of pressure on the Winlaton line where FLEMING stopped another score by preventing the ball being grounded over the line. However after a number of scrums and penalties in the home sides 10 metre area Barnard Castle scored again on 21mins(5PTS+2PTS) with the conversion successful. This seemed to galvanise the Vulcans and they kicked and drove their way into Bishop Auckland territory. A line out on their 10 metre line was won by KANE and the forwards drove over with DIXON grounding the ball (5PTS+2PTS) with a difficult conversion by FALKNER.
This gave the home supporters some hope but in the last quarter Bishop Auckland took control of the game and deprived Winlaton of possession and they secured their bonus point with two further unconverted tries (5PTS+5PTS).
FINAL SCORE 7-27.
MAN OF THE MATCH JASON COWLEY.