Straight back into it!

Welcome to 2024 everyone! To kick off the new year the club had the men’s and ladies’ first XVs playing away from home, the men down to Castleford for their return fixture and the ladies were up into the hills to play Wensleydale Heifers in the second of their respective league encounters. Despite best efforts there was no fixture for the men’s second XV whose opposition may still be shaking off the effects of the festive period.

The men of North’s took the journey south to face Castleford RUFC. Having offered up a very close encounter at the Lodge, North knew this would be a stern test of discipline. In front of a large travelling support, the boys got to work from the kick off, controlling the game with their tight forward play, using powerful runners and small pop passes in the contact to keep Cas on the back foot. This yielded possession and territory but not points as the hosts clever dismembered the visitor’s powerful lineout maul on several occasions close to the line by refusing to engage and tackling the ball carrier instead. Clearly something learnt from previous encounters. Quick to adapt to the situation North took a straightforward three points when offered in front of the posts, kicked by Jedd Bainbridge. Despite having the vast majority of possession, with Cas seemingly content to kick the ball back, North struggled to convert this into points. Opportunities from relentless pressure on the host’s goal line were repelled by dogged and ferocious defence. It was only when a spot of quick thinking from scrum half Jack Tart found Ben Pilling lurking on the blind side of a ruck after numerous forward phases that North were able to get their first try.
This moment of magic seemed to lift the team and Tart in particular who didn’t wait long to exploit a gap around the fringes of the ruck on the half-way line, scurry past the first covering tackle, bamboozle the full back and out pace the winger to score another terrific solo try for him against Castleford this season having scored something similar at the Lodge. Bainbridge kicked the conversion. The rest of the half continued in a similar vein, providing great entertainment for all the supporters as both teams looked to make breaks and run the ball. Pilling was very unlucky for his foot to graze the touchline as he dived in from close range trying to sneak underneath the covering tackler in one of the last plays of the half. North led by 15 points at half time but had stamped their authority on the game. The second half proved to be a very different encounter.
It started in a similar fashion to the first, North took hold of possession and drove their way straight up the middle of the pitch towards the Cas try line. From a resulting penalty North opted to scrum and were denied another try only by some heroic defending holding up the rampant Iain Swall who until this point had been running freely through tackles. From here on out the game became a very stop start affair, both teams allowing handling errors and offsides to creep into their game, the result of which was a stagnant second half that took place mostly in the middle of the pitch. There were some bright lights for both teams, crowd favourite from the lodge Connah Richmond came off the bench and immediately made an impact, latching onto an offload following a break by centre Ollie Walters and began the spring in from forty metres out. Deceptive speed being one of his many strengths, Connah reached the five-metre line before anyone could reach him and only a high tackle
at the last stopped a certain score. A penalty try was awarded instead. Castleford refused to lie down and at last got a score to reward their efforts at the end of the game. A loose pass in the middle of the pitch from North was hacked on and despite the best efforts of winger Josh Barratt who chased back to cover, the treacherous bounce of the rugby ball fell nicely in the Castleford winger’s hands and he ran over to score. The try was converted well from out wide. The match ended with a final score of Castleford RUFC 7 – Northallerton RUFC 22. Thank you to the referee for officiating what was at times a fractious encounter, a scuffle in the second half requiring some yellow and red to be flashed. Thank you to Castleford for hosting the match and thank you to all the travelling supporters from Northallerton who came to cheer on the boys.

The ladies’ first XV faced undoubtedly their toughest fixture in the calendar away at Wensleydale Heifers. They travelled the long and scenic road up into the Dales, brimming with anticipation and hope of challenging the league’s dominant side. Sadly, the journey seemed to get to the girls and they were caught napping as the first whistle went, the Heifers reacting brilliantly to an early clearance kick and turning it into their first try of the day. This woke North up and they retaliated with cohesive and well organised play in both attack and defence, slowing Dale’s attack right down and managing to gain field position whenever they had possession. It wasn’t long before Captain Natalie Gardiner broke through and gave North a try to close the gap to two points. The game flowed brilliantly with both teams consistently matching the intensity and work levels of their opposition. Dale managed to get over the line again, converting their effort to bring the score to 14-5. Fly half Ali O’Brien scored her customary try after relentless work by everyone on the team. At half time the scores stood at 14-10.
The second half began with the tempo remaining high. Both teams keen to gain an advantage by moving the ball around the pitch. North’s forwards gained ground with every carry and allowed the backs to have good space to work with. The tackling from the visitors was a huge part of their game, hard hits on a very strong opposition meant the Heifers couldn’t muscle their way through and had to work hard for their rewards. Their standing at the top of the league started to show though and they scored another well worked try. Not to be deterred by the scoreline, North pushed on. Big tackles came in from every player in the team lead by the back row of the pack. This allowed the rest of the team to focus on attempting to subdue Dale’s dangerous and pacey backs. Not to be out done, North found themselves in possession deep in the home side’s half and through some silky hands and well worked running, Gardiner dived over the line for her second try of the match. After
the restart Dale had a good spell of possession and worked well to break down North’s defence to run in two more tries and increase the score line. North refused to give in and the effort levels remained high, forcing the hosts to make uncharacteristic mistakes and give away penalties. Once again a phase of quick, accurate passes found O’Brien in space and she raced towards the corner for her second try of the match bringing the final score to Wensleydale Heifers 31 – Northallerton Ladies 20. Many thanks to the Heifers for a great game played in good spirits and to the referee who officiated the game brilliantly. Dale showed why they are deservedly top of the league but attention must be drawn to the progress of the North Ladies who, at the start of the season fell to a 34-0 defeat by the same team. This result shows just how far the team has come and a match that gives everyone at the club great hope for the future of this fantastic ladies team.

For any readers who would like to play rugby at Northallerton. The men train on Tuesday and Thursday 7pm, the ladies on Wednesday 7pm and the Juniors play on Sunday 10am. All ages and abilities welcome, please contact the club on social media for more information.