HALIFAX AWAY

Northallerton had their first fixture for 3 weeks away to bottom of the table Halifax Vandals. With quite a few players expecting the game to be off again and making other plans, North were forced to send a much weakened team than usual to the fixture. The 3 week lay off showed, as North struggled to put any fluency together and also, to deal with the home teams scrummage. North's only reward in a scrappy first half was a penalty from Tim Tombling to go in at the break 8-3 down. The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with both teams making plenty of handling errors but with the home team looking the more dangerous. Despite the best efforts of the experienced central pairing of Read and Cannel and the place kicking of Tombling, North were still unable to break through Halifax's defences. The home team scored one more try and a penalty before North made the too late tactic, with only 15 minutes left, of bringing on influential prop Nick Bainbridge and ex Captain Steve Robinson. This shored up North's scrummaging and gave them a platform to build on. This led to the late try for Rich Lonsdale, which again was excellently converted by Tombling. Unfortunately that was the last play of the game sending North to an unexpected 16-10 defeat.

Next week Northallerton 1st team are at home to Goole, while the 2nd and 3rd team fixtures are yet to be confirmed.