Rugby
Barnard castle II….. 58
Medicals II……………. 7
CASTLE took control of the early exchanges and dominated territory and possession. After just four minutes, lock Bill Neville stormed into the corner for the opening try. Steve Holloway, playing in the unfamiliar position of full-back, was unlucky not to make the conversion and saw his effort bounce back off the post.
Then on 14 minutes, Castle were awarded a penalty just outside the Medics 22 which Holloway slotted over to make it 8-0 Castle.
Barney then temporarily went off the boil. Medicals seized this opportunity and found themselves in the Castle half for the first time. Some stout defending repelled the Medicals advances and the outstanding Mark McConnell stole the ball back for Castle at the breakdown.
However, awarded a freekick for a foul tackle Medicals’ full-back broke through some weak tackling out wide and cut in to score near the posts. The conversion was made it 8-7.
Castle responded well but were initially unable to convert their pressure and possession into points.
Then on 32 minutes, prop John McGrath drove for the Medicals line. He was held up centimetres short but the ball was recycled quickly to his fellow prop Lewis Wigham, who made the finish look easy. The conversion was made to give Castle a 15-7 lead.
McGrath then got his name on the scoresheet as he and Wigham smuggled the ball over the line. Holloway made the conversion taking Barney into half-time with a healthy 22-7 lead.
Fitness told in the second half, as Barney rattled in 35 unanswered points.
The rout began when McGrath picked form the back of the ruck and drove over for his second try of the afternoon. Holloway made the conversion to extend Castle’s lead to 29-7.
This opened the floodgates as Castle’s winger Zach Jones then scored what was surely one of the quickest hat-tricks in Barnard Castle history. Jones was then promptly rewarded with a sit down to allow the bench a run out.
On 68 minutes, his replacement winger Dafydd Davies showed his credentials by making quick progress down the wing. He just managed to keep the ball in play after being tackled into touch and hooker Doug Shaw made a strong break, offloading to Bainbridge who the had options wide and on the inside.
He fooled the covering defence by choosing the inside option and Jonny Bartlett was able to score the try his performance merited. Holloway made the simple conversion and Castle led 55-7 with ten minutes remaining.
A late penalty concluded the scoring.
Charles Garland was awarded man-of-the-match after a lengthy debate among the team management.
Richie Johnson
