RUGBY
Barnard Castle ………………12
Darlington …………………….12
Barney welcomed early season league leaders, Darlington, in what promised to be a tough test. Castle were without several regulars in the backs and as a result, forwards Sam Bell and Jack Tobbell had to step into unfamiliar positions at centre and wing respectively.
Barney began with real purpose, they were fully switched on from the very start and for the first 25 minutes they played probably their best rugby of the season so far. The initial kick-off by Barney went long and the result was a scrum on half-way. Castle then shocked the visitors with a huge scrum and pushed Darlington off the ball to win the penalty.
Further Castle pressure led to a second penalty and a quick tap by scrum half Rees Doyle saw Danny Souter power over for the try from close range. With the conversion by fly-half Ralph Makepeace Barney had the early lead, 7-0.
The next few minutes saw Barney dominant with excellent carries and offloads, with James Peareth particularly prominent, but Darlington’s defence managed to hold firm, until the relentless Castle pressure resulted in a scrum close to the Darlington line. The ball was fed wide to winger Jack Clarke who raced in at the bottom right-hand corner for the second try of the day to take Barney into a 12-0 lead with the conversion missed.
Darlington were quick to bounce-back though and a lineout close to the Barney line saw them cross for their opening try. An excellent conversion by their centre saw the scores narrow to 12-7. A few minutes later the scores were level as an excellent break by Darlington’s dangerous Fijian centre saw him offload to support and a try in the top left corner. With the tricky conversion missed the scores were tied at the half-time break.
The second half was evenly contested with both defences excellent.
New signing Ben Parker exemplified the Castle effort and he was all over the pitch making crunching tackles to keep the opposition at bay. Ralph Makepeace worked hard to force an opening, but Darlington’s defence held firm.
Towards the end Darlington looked as if they might sneak it with a couple of long-range penalty attempts, but both went wide and the scores stayed tied at 12-12 as the final whistle blew.
A special mention must go to the referee who damaged his achilles tendon with eight minutes of the game remaining, but bravely limped on to ensure that the game could run its full course.
Ralph Makepeace was awarded man of the match by the opposition for his tireless display as he tried everything to conjure the win for Barney.
The club would like to thank Arwel and Alison Hughes for their kind sponsorship of the game.
This week sees Barney making the trip away to Gateshead.
Nick Raper
