Big wins for the all the club

The victories came rolling in this weekend with three teams battling hard to gain terrific wins home and away. The men’s first XV won away at Barnsley whilst the ladies’ got back to winning ways at home against Durham City and the under 15’s put 62 points past a combined Richmond and Thirsk barbarian squad.
Storm Babet seemed to have put paid to many of the junior fixtures this weekend with two out of three festivals cancelled, however the under 15’s were not to be deterred lightly. Revelling in the ever-increasing numbers of members that the junior section is playing with, the oldest of
Northallerton’s junior teams took the short trip to Thirsk to play against a Lower Dales barbarian team made up of Thirsk and Richmond players. Having gained several victories so far this year, the U15’s used that experience and skill to navigate the sticky conditions left by heavy rain. It was only tries that rained in on Sunday, from the start, North looked to move the ball through the hands and find space all across the pitch. Stout defending from the Barbarians could not stem the wave of attacking play North unleashed and try after try took the score away from the visiting team. North endured their share of defensive duty and with strength of character stuck to the task of holding the line when needed. The final score at the whistle was Northallerton U15s 62 – Lower Dales 12. Man of the match was awarded to Evan Young. Many thanks to Thirsk for their generous hospitality and to the referee for officiating the game.

The ladies’ were keen to put their recent losses behind them as they welcomed a new opponent to the Lodge in Durham City Dragons. Not knowing what to expect the girls knew they had to be quick out of the blocks and that’s exactly what they did. From the off, North were up in Durham’s faces every time the ball was in hand. Tackling hard and defending with purpose, North were quickly rewarded with possession and good field position that allowed SJ Pritchard to power over the Durham try line out wide to open the scoring. Ali O’Brien kicked the conversion to add the extra points. Play restarted and this time if was Durham attacking hard and getting through the phases. If not for some very cohesive, well communicated work from the home side Durham would have been on the score board. As it was North’s defensive work paid off, there was always an answer for any attack and the ball was turned over into the quick hands of North’s backs who moved it out to the
wing were Issy Andrew who ran in the host’s second try. O’Brien again converted from distance.
The rest of the first half followed the sae script, Durham relentlessly trying to find a way through and North brilliantly shutting them down, regaining possession and pushing them back up the pitch. With the visitors pinned back on their own try line, discipline let them down, giving North a penalty in a very dangerous position. A tap and go into the hands of Gina Fothergill drove the hosts just short of the try line where Durham stole the ball in a ruck. Quick as a flash, Emily McCormack stole it back and dove for the line to score another North try. O’Brien added the conversion again. Looking to carry the momentum on, North managed to run in a fourth try before the half time break. O’Brien this time taking matters into her own hands and running around Durham’s tiring defenders and over the line, adding the extras to her own try and ending the half with a score line of 28-0 that didn’t reflect fully the effort that Durham were putting into the game.
The second half started almost identically to the first, early pressure from the visitors being turned over and the ball fed through the hands of the backs to fullback Emma Lawson who slipped through a gap, put the hammer down and ran in the fifth of the match under the posts to make the kick easier for O’Brien who knocked over the conversion. A second try of O’Brien soon after put the game beyond the reach of Durham who to their credit did not reduce their efforts. They attacked in good, well worked phases and eventually through relentless work found a gap in the defence to exploit. Luckily for the hosts, Lawson was on hand to extinguish the threat, keeping the score line at zero. Durham kept pushing through and fought their way up the pitch, only for it to be fumbled by Durham and Lawson’s pace enabled her to get there first. Showing off some useful footballing skills she kicked ahead and out-ran everyone to get a hand to the ball and score the last try of the day. Durham finished the match with their longest and best spell of attack, forcing North all the way back to their own try line. Heroic defending from Gardiner, Fothergill and Welford stopped Durham just short of the line and ended the game with a final score of Northallerton 47 – Durham City Dragons 0. A hard-fought result that was earned by every player in the squad over the full eighty minutes.
Forward of the match was given to Gina Fothergill, Back of the Match to Emily Richardson and player of the match awarded to Emily McCormack. A big thank you to stand in referee Iain Swall who came in at late notice to officiate the game, to Kate and Abby for sorting the match teas and to Durham for being so understanding and happy to relocate the game after their pitches were flooded.

Northallerton men’s first XV travelled away to Barnsley RUFC in high spirits on the back of their victorious run to the start of the season. They started the game with fire in the belly and their early dominance paid off with winger Ross Easdon finding space to score in the corner. This intensity continued and by holding onto the ball and playing through the phases a second try followed fairly quickly. Barnsley struggled to hold onto the ball for much of the first half, letting North off the hook with defensive duties. An ambition to move the ball around and play wider rugby has worked well for North so far this season however, with a greasy ball this was perhaps a day for keeping it tighter as handling errors crept in and gifted the ball back to the hosts on numerous occasions.
In the second half the growing experience of the team showed clearly. Struggling to hold the ball, North opted to kick more possession and pinned Barnsley down in their ascendancy. Using this field position to their advantage North turned the ball over and it wasn’t long before captain Ed Meek smuggled his way over the try line to extend the lead. Barnsley weren’t to be deterred and by sticking to their game plan of powerful running and offloads they found a way to breach the North defence and score a try. This was followed by two penalties kicked off the back of North ill-discipline and it was thanks to a clever defensive read from winger Ben Pilling who intercepted a long pass from the home side and raced away to score against the tide of play. This brought the game to a close with a final score of Barnsley 11 – Northallerton 26. A solid performance away from home. Big thanks to Barnsley for their generous hospitality and to the referee for officiating the game.

For anybody wanting to play rugby in Northallerton, the men train on Tuesday and Thursday 7pm, the ladies train on Wednesday 7pm and juniors play on Sunday 10am. All ages and abilities welcome.