Having won the toss the Vulcans elected to play up the slope and against a stiff breeze. They made the best of starts and took the game straight to the visitors with drives up the middle of the park by the forwards with Darren CORNWALL, Dale PATTINSON and Dominic NEALE showing with aggressive running and off loading giving Kevin ALLISON and Adam HOUSTON quick ball which allowed them the opportunity to bring the three quarters into the game. This resulted on 7MINS CORNWALL being driven over the Barnard Castle line but the ball was adjudged to having been held up and the defence cleared the danger. The pressure continued on Barnard Castle's d defence and on 16MINS Winlaton got their reward when after a great drive by PATTINSON the ball was taken on by CORNWALL who in turn fed David SCOTT who crashed over in the corner (5PTS) + ( 2PTS) the difficult touchline conversion being kicked in off the post by HOUSTON. From the opposition kick off the ball was given to the three quarters and good incisive running by Mark SEDDON and Jamie HOPKINSON and a number of other hands resulted in HOUSTON going in under the posts with him converting his own try(5PTS) +(2PTS) for a fantastic team try. This good start seemed to give the Vulcans the wrong message and they took their foot off the peddle and started to over elaborate which gave Barnard Castle a chance to get into the game. For the next quarter it was their turn to exert pressure on the home defence and they were rewarded on 26MINS when due to the incessant pressure Winlaton transgressed and Barnard Castle converted the easy penalty kick (3PTS). This seemed to galvanise the Vulcans with another series of offloading in the tackle and support of the ball carrier which on 33MINS resulted in CORNWALL spinning out of three tackles to go over in the corner (5PTS) the touchline conversion going narrowly wide. Again complacency set in and Barnard Castle responded with a series of scrums and line outs in the Winlaton 22 and in the 45th minute of added injury time the number 8 picked up from a scrum on the home sides line and crashed over with the try being converted.(5PTS) + (2PTS).
HALF TIME 19PTS – 10PTS.
Again Winlaton made the better start of the half using the wind and slope advantage with HOUSTON using long probing kicks to gain territorial advantage and put their opponent's line under pressure. On 49MINS as a result of such a kick PATTINSON won the resulting lineout on the Barnard Castle 10 metre line and the Vulcans pack drove him over the line but the referee adjudged it to be held up. From the resulting scrum number 8 CORNWALL picked up from a solid base and crashed over for his second try (5PTS) + (2PTS) the conversion resulting from another magnificent kick by HOUSTON from the touchline giving the Vulcans the 4 try bonus point. It was still all the home side at this stage and from another long clearance kick saw Barnard give a needless penalty away on 55MINs which HOUSTON converted(3PTS). With all credit to the visitors they never gave up and again the Vulcans due to complacency allowed them back into the game and they had the home defence stretched when they began to run the ball from every part of the the field. Their tenacity was rewarded on 67MINS when they scored a try in the corner (5PTS) the conversion being missed. This seemed to stir the Vulcans into action and they made an instant riposte on 68 MINS when from the kick off the ball was taken to the half way line and HOPKINSON took the ball at place from a clever off load and scythed his way through the whole of the Castle defence and touch down under the posts (5PTS) + (2PTS) the easy conversion being kicked by HOUSTON. This seemed to break the spirit of Barnard Castle resistance and again from a poor restart from the resulting scrum Winlaton on 71 MINS won the ball and HOUSTON was allowed to run 30 metres unchallenged to score under the posts(5PTS) + (2PTS) converting his own try. Winlaton kept on the pressure and on 79MINS they were awarded a penalty under the visitors posts which HOUSTON converted (3PTS) to end the game.
FINAL SCORE 46PTS – 15PTS
MAN OF THE MATCH Darren CORNWALL
Comment
A fantastic response from the players, after the nightmare of the previous week, which was due to team effort, spirit, pride and commitment to the Club giving all a good platform to work on.