U16s - A Final spot is the Final stop

The game we had all been waiting for, semi-final day had arrived and an opportunity for the boys to repeat last years performance and make the plate final for consecutive years. The welcome on offer at Billingham is second to none, hash browns, black pudding and that is without the usual pork based breakfast options...a civilised start to a chilly Teesside morning!

The most recent encounter between the two teams had resulted in a resounding success to the boys from DMP, but the chatter amongst the faithful was that the Billingham boys were welcoming some of their number back from injury so a rather different game may be on offer today.....

The referees whistle brought the commencement to play with a well executed punt upfield from the Billingham fly-half, which was well fielded by Dom Dawson, once again setting the standard for direct running with ball in hand. The early stages of play were evenly contested and within the first few minutes there were several opportunities for both teams to put into practice their scrummaging, the referee demonstrating that he was keen on penalising any type of infringement, and the signs were that both packs were up for the challenge, the outcome possibly shaded by the visitors. From the back of one of these scrums, MotM Josh Brown made a surging run up-field being pulled to rest by the visitors defence only yards from the try line, thankfully he was well supported by Alex Wijkstria and Danny Winter who between them conjured up the ball for Andrew West to go over for the first score.
The majority of the territorial game was played in the DMP half but the boys were resolute in defence, they were certainly conceding a plethora of penalties, but still got back the required ten metres on each occasion to foil the next attack. Unfortunately Billingham took an opportunity to kick one of their penalties to keep the scoreboard in close order. From there on in all of the scoring was done by the boys in blue and white, the half back combination of Tom Hunter and Ross Boddy managing to get the ball to James Souter who beat a number of the home defence for the five point score, replicating the act a few minutes later to double his tally. Ross knocking over the extras in style. The boys were certainly putting in a shift across the park, Toby Haithwaite, Tom Freary and Will Birch were doing a sterling job at the breakdown and Marcus Hunton was putting himself about with a re-discovered level of energy, possibly topping the tackle count in the first half, although Matty would certainly have run him close. The final score of the half came from the boot of Ross, converting another great try from Andrew West. At oranges it was 26-3 to the visitors.

The second half saw Owen O'Donovan coming into the fray at scrum half, taking over the string pulling from Tom Hunter and Macca taking over second row responsibilities from Marcus. The home team seemed determined to make a game of it and give them credit they continued to battle away, bossing the territory much as they had in the first period. But the boys from the southern tip of the Tees Valley have developed into canny operators over recent months and they were not about to let slip a place in the final. There was tremendous vocal encouragement coming from Aiden Thubron at the back and Danny Walker was making some great yardage with a couple of jinking runs. The outlet once again came in the shape of Josh Brown who made one of his barnstorming runs to get the boys on the second half scoreboard. Ross slotted the two. Further changes saw Calum Randle, Liam Bracken and Alex Seaman enter the fray, together with the coiled spring of Glenno. All of him played an important part in keeping the blue and white machine moving in the right direction and it was to be one of the replacements, Alex Seaman who was on hand to score his maiden try, well done Alex. There was still time for the home team to launch further attacks and keep the scoreboard ticking over before Josh Brown managed to cross the whitewash for a final time, easing visitng nerves and guaranteeing safe passage to another final.

Well played boys, a host of great displays and a nod to the opposition for their part in an entertaining game. Bring on our final combatants!!

MotM - Josh Brown....Never stopped running
Penny - Dan Hunter....for being Dan!