NJV vs Castleford

Northallerton travelled to Castleford in the first stage of the National Junior Vase and came away with a well deserved 6-13 victory.
Northallerton's coach/manager was able to choose his strongest away side for a long time and the selection paid dividends as North outsmarted the opposition in all aspects.
The game was nearly called off on the Friday night due to a heavy downpour and was in jeopardy still on Saturday lunch, but after a inspection by both captains it was agreed to play on the second team pitch.
On arrival at 'the land that time forgot', North knew that the conditions would would suit us more than the allegedly impressive backs of Cas and were eager to get down and dirty. However some of Norths spectators were wondering if they'd come to the wrong ground when asked for an entrance fee??? Money must be tight during the recession!

Despite the cold, wet and windy conditions, it was Castleford who started the stronger as North struggled to shake off the journey. The home team fluffed a straight forward penalty after five minutes before North upped their game and pinned Castleford into their own 22. After a couple of close calls North got their just rewards with a try from James Hopkin after twenty five minutes. With a strong swirling wind, fly half Alec Porter Jnr slotted home the conversion to take a 7-0 nil lead. Northallerton were now looking the stronger team, winning everyone of their own line outs and also most of the Castleford throws, this was mostly down to excellent work from number 8 Iain Swall. North were forced to give prop Paul Dicko a rest as he was penalised twice for 'boring in' and was running the risk of a yellow card. Tank said he'd never been so proud of Dicko! James Baker was brought on to save Dickos blushes. Just as North seemed to be in the ascendancy, lack of discipline let Castleford back into the game. The home team scored a penalty on 35 minutes and then two minutes later Norths Martin Dennison received a yellow card for a high tackle. From the ensuing penalty Cas closed the scores to 6-7, but on the stroke of half time Porter replied with a long range penalty from near the half way line to send the teams in at 6-10 to Northallerton at half time.
Despite being down to 14 men for the start of the second half, it was Northallerton who still controlled the game and pressed from the off. The Castleford defence remained solid despite Norths superior strength in the forwards, Castlefords backs however were mostly quiet and rarely troubled Norths defences - as was evident by Dan Lucks clean shirt! Midway through the second half, surprisingly the home teams scrum seemed to gain strength but still they could not relieve the pressure. North then suffered a minor blow when prop Phil Swall had to be replaced following a accidental(?) boot in the face and a knock to his ankle. This meant the introduction of Nic Bainbridge who used his years of experience and 25 stone, to steady up the scrum. It was now the home teams turn to lose their discipline and composure as they had no answer to Norths line outs or rolling mauls. North had a couple of chances to go for penalties but instead opted for kicks to touch for catch and drives. Twice North were thwarted by last ditch tackles when looking to score out wide. Two minutes from time Porter converted another penalty to seal the win. Man of the match was awarded to Iain Swall who just edged out Doug Mulholland for his outstanding touch judge work!
Next week Northallerton return to league action, away at Rotherham, 2.15pm kick off.

Northallerton second team fixture away at Wetherby in the North Yorks Trophy was cancelled due to Wetherby being unable to raise a second team. This means the fixture was awarded to Northallerton by default.
Northallerton 2nds hope to return to action next week at home to Acklam.

H Johnson.