Whitley Bay Rockliff 23 Barnard Castle 36
Barnard Castle’s perfect league campaign came to an end with a hard-fought win by the seaside.
The newly-crowned champions made the trip to Whitley Bay aiming to chalk up another win to end the league season with a perfect record.
Sure enough, they took their tally of wins in this season’s Counties 2 Durham & Northumberland campaign to 22 and now turn their attention to retaining the County Cup.
In warm and sunny conditions, Castle took the field on Rockliff’s unfamiliar artificial surface and the players took time to adjust to the conditions.
As usual Ben Parker set the tone for the afternoon with a colossal early hit on his opposite number and Barney set the early pace. Pressure on the Rockliff line saw a ruck form and scrum-half Reggie Langton spotted a gap and forced his way over for the try.
With man-of-the-match Ralph Makepeace on target with the conversion Castle had an early 0-7 lead.
Rockliff were looking dangerous, attacking with intent, and it was therefore no surprise when their winger scored out wide and the successful conversion tied the scores.
Castle soon fell behind as a couple of penalties enabled the excellent Rockliff kicker to take full advantage and midway through the half the score was 13-7.
Another great hit by Ben Parker saw Makepeace take full advantage as he outpaced the opposition defence for a terrific solo try. With his accurate conversion Barney had edged back into a narrow 13-14 lead.
Following the restart a deft chip through by Makepeace saw him obstructed by a couple of Rockliff defenders and he was able to take advantage, slotting the resulting penalty over to extend the lead to 13-17.
The home side were looking threatening as the second half got underway, but it was Castle who secured the next score as a speculative kick through by Ben Parker was chased down by Reggie Langton who forced the Rockliff defender into an error. From the resulting scrum Langton was able to dart over from close range for the try.
Barney’s defence was excellent as Rockliff mounted a series of attacks and Eddie Anderson was particularly effective at winning turnovers on the ground to enable Barney to clear their lines and keep their opponents at bay.
Castle looked to have made the victory safe as the game entered the final quarter when, from a lineout on the opposition 22, Danny Souter drove towards the line and then the ball was spun out to Elijah Delaidriti who ran in for the try. With another accurate Makepeace conversion the lead extended to 13-31.
Whitley Bay weren’t done, and they hit back from the restart to give their supporters hope as they went over for the try from close range. The conversion was missed so the score stood at 18-31.
Almost from the restart Anderson ripped the ball from Rockliff hands and set off for the try-line, only to be finally brought down with a metre to go. However, Delaidriti was following up and picked up and drove over for the score.
In the closing minutes of the game Rockliff had the final say as their left winger went over in the corner following a period of pressure to leave the score at 23-36 at the final whistle.
Barney’s next fixture is a County Cup semi-final at Hartlepool on May 9.
Barnard Castle: 1 Marty Lonsdale (Lifestyle Logistics), 2 Doug Shaw (RCA Coaching Academy), 3 Rhys Quinn (Ali & Arwel Hughes) 4 Sam Bell (Dickinson’s Agriculture), 5 Henry Thompson (The Old Chapel, Staindrop), 6 Joe Gibbons (S Patterson & M Coates), 7 Ben Parker (Potts Groundworks), 8 Eddie Anderson (Tim Anita), 9 Reggie Langton, 10 Ralph Makepeace (D Souter Farrier Services), 11 Tom Steen (Pulse Accountants), 12 Elijah Delaidriti (S & RD Parker), 13 Harry Parker (Fox and Hounds, Cotherstone), 14 Robbie Lavin (C & J Marshall), 15 Oscar Jacques (Beauty Therapy Clinic), 16 Jack Worley (The Worleys), 17 Maurice Batiuluna, 18 Rhys Quinn
