U16s - Can't Stop Winning

Today's visitors were used to a cold wind, being adjacent to the North Sea, and the boys from Blyth had certainly brought the wind with them.The previous meeting this season had seen the team in green finish as winners, but they acknowledged that it had been a close affair. With a number of players away and a few on the injury list, DMPs strong squad would need to show its worth.

With a virtual full house of Junior teams all in action it was testament to the work that had gone on over the previous ten months or so that the pitch was about to play it's second game of the day.

The first quarter of the game was a forwards affair and it was definitely dominated by DMP, the front row were doing sterling work going through the phases, picking and driving to make valuable yardage, well supported by their colleagues from the pack. Dom Dawson was once again a one man driving maul and the usual superb ball carrying from Matty, in addition to his awesome tap tackle, and Josh Brown meant that Blyth were under constant pressure. The re-starts from line outs and scrums were also a strength, Will Birch throwing some pin point efforts that Macca was plucking expertly out of the air and Liam Bracken coordinating his men to dominance at scrum down. It therefore came as no surprise that the boys in blue and white were the first to register on the scoreboard, the ball finding it's way along the line to Andrew West at center and with a boost of acceleration he beat a couple of the away defence to cross the whitewash. Unfortunately a late tackle on Andrew after he had grounded the ball saw him spending an extended period on the sidelines. This signalled a period of dominance from the home team and a similar passage of play saw the second try. The ball came out from the base of the scrum, thirty metres out, and through the hands of a combination of backs and forwards in the line. The final pass out to the wing saw Danny Winter collect, select top gear and a couple of fends later ground the ball in the corner. A great team try. There was a response from Blyth immediately from the re-start, the ball bouncing around near the home twenty two and an away team player seized his opportunity to cross for the five points, a team mate adding the two. The first half was moving towards its conclusion when DMP notched the final score before oranges. The ball was once again moved out from the breakdown and into the hands of Marcus Hunton who threw a long looping pass out to the wing and into the hands of Danny Winter who once again sped down the line and dotted down in identical fashion to his first effort.

The second half was to turn out to be a much more even affair with the away team getting their forwards into the game with some excellent ball carrying and their backs were also showing their ability, measured passing and fleet of foot. If the faithful did not have numb finger ends from the cold then some nail biting may have been in order. Things had started well with Josh Brown scoring one of trademark tries, powering through a number of visiting defenders to go over for the five point score. At this point nerves, or hypothermia, appeared to take hold of the boys in blue and white as the support to their runners had diminished and the tackles were not as precise as they had been. Two tries from Blyth, both well deserved, made the final few minutes a tense affair and everyone in the blue and white camp were very pleased to hear the ref whistle for full time.

Well done to both teams for an excellent game of rugby.

Penny - Glenno......people are going to start and talk Glenno
MOM: Josh B....did what he has been doing all season