Rugby
Barnard Castle ..................31
Redcar ................................27
Barney welcomed Redcar to the Demesnes and also welcomed a special guest spectator – former Wales and British Lions international, Colin Charvis, who had been the speaker at the club’s 50th anniversary dinner the previous evening.
Barney began brightly and were soon in the lead thanks to a well-taken penalty by fly half Ralph Makepeace (Sponsor: D Souter Farrier Services).
Redcar hit back with a penalty of their own, but Castle regained the lead with a sumptuous try by Matthew Osborne (Roman Ltd) when an excellent drive by James Peareth (Peareth Financial) saw Matthew receive the ball in space and then an exquisite dummy saw him open the way to the try line for the score. With the successful conversion Barney led 10-3.
They extended their lead when a line-out steal saw them move the ball down the line with Robbie Lavin (C&J Marshall) offloading to Jack Clarke (Castle Dental Practice) who dived over for the try. An excellent conversion by Ralph took it to 17-3.
Shortly afterwards, Barney thought they had a try when Matthew Osborne touched down, but the referee ruled a knock-on and Redcar were able to clear their lines.
There was another Castle penalty on the stroke of half time, but after some confusion, it was adjudged to have been wide and the score remained at 17-3.
Barney’s first half performance had been excellent and were looking comfortable to win, but Redcar came out for the second half full of intent.
As bright and fluent as Castle had been for the first 40 minutes they were stuttering and misfiring for much of the second half and were on the wrong end of a number of decisions.
Redcar was able to get back into the game as their flanker ran a good line to open the second half scoring; with the conversion the gap narrowed to 17-10.
Barney hit back in style though as Ralph Makepeace sliced his way through the Redcar defence before offloading to Matthew Osborne for his second try of the day. The conversion extended the lead to 24-10.
A flurry of yellow cards led to some disruption and Redcar won a penalty close to the Barney line. With Barney’s players questioning reasons for the decision, Redcar took a quick tap penalty for the try, 24-15, conversion missed.
Redcar were now enjoying a purple patch and another excellent line by their flanker saw another try to close the gap to 24-20, no conversion.
Calamity continued as another Redcar penalty saw confusion in the Castle ranks and another quick tap saw Redcar run in unopposed for the try. With the conversion successful, Barney were behind for the first time and with only a couple of minutes remaining.
It was looking very bleak for the home side at this point, but with the clock ticking down a Redcar forward was deservedly red-carded.
Barney were desperate for the score, but as the referee began to look at his watch Redcar won a scrum and all they had to do to see the game out was to win the scrum and boot the ball into touch for victory.
They duly won the scrum and their number 8 booted the ball towards touch, but his kick was sliced and the ball bounced backwards towards the Redcar line.
Castle seized on the error and after a series of skirmishes on the Redcar line, James Peareth drove over for the try to secure an unlikely win in the closing seconds. The conversion was again successful earning Barney a four-try bonus point and the victory, 31-27.
It really had been a game of two halves, with contrast in performance between the two. Back in the clubhouse the opposition named James Peareth as man of the match for his excellent performance.
The club would like to thank match sponsors, the Thompson family, and match-ball sponsor, Andrea Barber.
There is no game next week and the following week sees an away trip to league leaders Durham University. The next home game will be on November 9 when the visitors will be Hartlepool Rovers for a 2pm kick-off.
Nick Raper
