Barnard Castle bounce back in style

Barnard Castle 35 Gateshead 20

Barnard Castle returned to form with a rousing home win over Gateshead.

Barney began their Counties 1 North East campaign encouragingly with a narrow home victory over Darlington but then tasted defeat on their travels to Durham University and Bishop Auckland.

So a convincing victory over high-flying Gateshead on the Demesnes was the perfect response after suffering back-to-back defeats.

In the run up to the game the omens were not good as a growing injury list robbed Barney of seven first team regulars, including vice-captain James Peareth.

Finn Usher and Lewis Thwaites came in at full back and No8 respectively, with Fijian speedster Aisake “Wisse” Matebalavu, who has been starring for the seconds, coming onto the bench.

All three would go on to perform superbly and make a real impact on their debuts.

Gateshead began brightly and pegged Castle back to defend their own try line in the opening exchanges.

A great break by Doug Shaw relieved the pressure and a Gateshead infringement gave Ralph Makepeace the opportunity to open the scoring with a well taken penalty.

Before long the Barney lead had grown to 8-0 as scrum half Matthew Osborne forced his way over following a well-executed lineout catch and drive.

Gateshead were quick to hit back as an attempted clearance was charged down and they followed up to claim the try in the top corner.

Barney were combining well and playing some attractive attacking rugby.

Great work by Thwaites won his team a penalty in the Gateshead half and from the resulting lineout another impressive catch and drive by the Barney pack saw Maurice Batiuluna go over for the try to make it 13-5.

Gateshead narrowed the gap with a penalty before Castle closed the half with another try as a strong five-metre scrum saw the ball offloaded to Matthew Osborne who went over from close range for his second try of the day.

With Ralph Makepeace on target with the conversion they led 20-8 at the interval.

Gateshead began the second half with intent, but a Fergus Makepeace cross-kick found Wisse, who had joined proceedings from the bench, and he showed his lightning pace to take the ball to within a couple of metres of the try-line where he unselfishly offloaded and Elijah Delaidriti went over for the try in the corner.

Gateshead were looking to get back into the game and another charge down gave them the opportunity to spin the ball wide and go over for the try to narrow the gap to 25-15.

With Barney reduced to 14 men for ten minutes following a yellow card they opted to take the points when awarded a kickable penalty in front of the posts and Ralph Makepeace duly obliged.

Castle were playing some lovely rugby and came close to adding to their try tally on a couple of occasions before Bats brushed off several Gateshead challenges to drive over for his second try of the day and with Ralph Makepeace’s conversion the lead grew to 35-15.

Gateshead were to have the last word as they went over for a try in the bottom corner just as the final whistle was about to sound to leave the score at an impressive 35-20 at the close.

Back in the clubhouse Ben Parker was awarded the man-of-the-match accolade for an exceptional performance, with his combative approach winning numerous turnovers, but every player deserved a mention for a superb team effort.

Barney are next in action tomorrow (Saturday) when they make the trip to Hartlepool.

Barnard Castle: 1. Marty Lonsdale (Lifestyle Logistics), 2. Doug Shaw (RCA Coaching Academy), 3. Danny Souter (Hughes Family), 4. Maurice Batiuluna (David Jackson), 5. Jack Worley (Bambi & Jayne), 6. Joe Gibbons (S Patterson & M Coates), 7. Ben Parker (Potts Groundworks), 8. Lewis Thwaites, 9. Matthew Osborne (Roman Ltd), 10. Ralph Makepeace (D Souter Farrier Services), 11. Robbie Lavin (C&J Marshall), 12. Fergus Makepeace,13. Elijah Delaidriti (S&RD Parker), 14. Harry Parker (Fox & Hounds, Cotherstone), 15. Finn Usher, 16. Andrew Bell, 17. Aisake Matebalavu.