For once Head Coach Rollie Wills could pick from a position of strength with availability the best we've had all season, even the late withdrawal of tighthead Dean Jefferson due to work just gave an opportunity to Dom Neale who has just returned to rugby this season. In all fairness South Shields had struggled with honouring the fixture all week with their own mixture of injuries and availability meaning they arrived with the bare 15, some players out of position and lots of inexperience in the side.

In this situation you can often think the game is won before you start and they can be messy and ugly affairs so concentration and sticking to the game plan is what is required to make sure you do a good job and get something from the game.

Winlaton won the toss and chose to kick uphill in the first half and straight from the kick off the pattern of the game was revealed, the kick was straight into the line of the sun but was taken well, passed along the threequarters where outside centre Pat Gillan cut a nice angle to break through, he drew the fullback, dummied the pass which was taken and sprinted through to score from 50 metres. Surely the quickest try we will ever score!

This pattern followed pretty much the whole half with Shields struggling to make first up tackles and gaps were found on first, second and third phase by the hosts with a steady stream of tries scored and the strong wind in their face which didn't seem to bother Winlaton at all.

The little possession Shields did get they kicked which invited the hosts to run from deep with great success and the backline pretty much had a free reign on the scoring as the attacks were quick and direct.

The half ended with a score of 67-0 and 11 tries scored up the hill.

It was clear from the offset of the 2nd half that Winlaton had decided running everything back on first or second phase would run up the score but benefit nobody so the forwards decided to take the ball into contact a bit more go through several phases in which the visitors made them work to retain possession and then try and play of patterns from training. This actually made the game a bit more of a contest, Shields started to get some pick and drive stuff going and had a bit of possession making the hosts work a bit. However gaps were still there and when the chance presented itself tries were scored but at least it now resembled a game of sorts and the visitors contributed to some good passages of play both in defence and attack.

Unfortunately they sustained an injury to a young player, followed by another to go down to 13, when a 3rd player was crocked it was decided by both captains and the referee, Micky Brace, that common sense should prevail and the game ended on around 70 minutes with the final score at 133-0. Winlaton's try scorers were left wing Steve Whitmore with 5, Dave Lowes with 4 and Pat Gillan and Rob Pyle with 3 each, Micky Ferguson had a brace and plenty of players with singles as well, 14 conversions to add from 21 tries was good return in what was a very strong wind.

What was nice to see was trhat Shields made the effort to honour the fixture, our players treat them with respect and the visitors stayed for a good while enjoying some good hospitality mixing with the Winlaton lads after the game. Their skipper Dan McKay, who is a good player himself was a model of class for his club and we all hope that this is just a temporary blip fro them, they regroup and come back stronger and they enjoy what's left of the season and go with our best wishes.

MOM
Steve Whitmore