The ladies brave the weather to win on the road

The ladies were the only team from Northallerton to tough out the conditions and play their league match, the frozen pitches on the Saturday prevented the men’s first XV and second XV from playing their respective away matches.

In a weekend when all teams were due to be playing away from home, the ladies’ first XV travelled up to Durham for their return fixture between the two teams. The weather was far from ideal, high winds and rain played a big part in the game by blowing straight down the length of the pitch offering a significant advantage to one team in each half. From the first whistle it was clear that both teams were switched on, possession changed hands at the breakdown regularly and good pressure from both sides forced handling errors that meant neither side was able to take an immediate advantage. Eventually it was Durham who broke the deadlock, opening the scoring with a try out wide, the only space on the pitch that North’s solid defence in the middle had left. The game continued in much the same fashion, both sides fronting up brilliantly in defence which forced mistakes and turnovers of possession. Some great defensive work by the whole Northallerton team ensured Durham had to really work for anything. Several line breaks were quashed by the ever-reliable Emma Lawson at fullback who covered most of the pitch in her defensive duties. As the clock came close to half time, the visitors were pinned back in their own 22-metre area and
Durham took full advantage by forcing their way over the tryline out wide again to end the half with a ten-point lead.

After some encouraging words from coach Robbo at the break, North came out in the second half a more organised and calmer outfit. Managing to string phases together and using the wind to her advantage fly half Ali O’Brien’s boot kept Durham in their end of the pitch. Solid carries from the pack including the forward of the match Anna Ridings gained North even more ground and gave O’Brien the platform needed to exploit a gap and dive in under the posts, converting her own effort to bring the visitors back into the game. An incredibly tense twenty minutes followed where both teams gave as good as the other, the fight they showed in miserable conditions was admirable and one to be proud of for both sides. Eventually through fantastic distribution and reading of the game from scrum half Emily Richardson, tactics of kick, chase and turnovers and heavy carries from the back row trio, Captain Nat Gardiner managed to break a tackle and drag herself and several defenders over the line under the posts. This allowed O’Brien to convert the try to give North a four-point lead. With little of the match remaining attention turned to making sure Durham were kept at bay. Tiring legs and dropping energy levels meant the team discipline around the breakdown started to wane. North gave several penalties to the hosts who took advantage and crept their way up the pitch into wind. Eventually the referee had enough of North’s infringements and sent prop Charlotte Swall to the sin bin for the remainder of the game. Durham threw all their reserves of energy at the visitors in one last attack, and it was only the intervention of newbie-to-the-team Lucy Robinson who timed a tackle on her opposite number perfectly to dislodge the ball and force and knock on that gave North the possession they needed to see out the last few seconds of the game and get the ball off the pitch. The final score for the game, Durham City Dragons 10 – Northallerton Ladies 14. Forward of the match was awarded to Anna Ridings, back of the match to Emma Lawson and player of the match was awarded to Emily Richardson. Many thanks to Durham City Dragons for their generous hospitality and for hosting the game in such challenging conditions on a weekend when many other fixtures were postponed. Many thanks also to the referee for officiating the game.

For any readers wanting to play rugby in Northallerton, the men train on Tuesday and Thursday 7pm, the ladies train on Wednesday 7pm and the juniors play on Sunday 10am. Please contact the club on social media for more information.