HOME WIN OVER BAILDON

Northallerton first team entertained second placed Baildon at home and staged a spirited second half recovery to gain a impressive 29-16 victory.
Baildon started off on the front foot and forced Northallerton to defend in their own 22 consistently for the first twenty minutes, even Dicko had to make a tackle!!! North put everything they had on the line and were sometimes over zealous with their attempts to hold back wave after wave of Baildon threats. The constant pressure resulted in North giving away three penalties, which the visitors gratefully accepted to go into a 9-0 lead.
North were still struggling to put any telling moves together as the visitors continued to have the majority of possession.
Baildon they suffered a devastating injury to their talisman fly half who had been 'running' the show with his clinical distribution and accurate kicking.
Just before half time Northallerton got themselves back into the game with a typical Northallerton try from a rolling maul that was touched down by the Viking that is Joe Osleton, Jedd Bainbridge with the conversion sent the teams in 7-9 at the break.
Two minutes into the second half North made a rare foray into the visitors 22 and looked likely to score before the Baildon full back intercepted a looping pass and ran nearly the entire length to touch down for a converted try.
North then made a couple of changes introducing an intrepid threesome including the prodigal son of club legend Nigel Willis, young Nige junior, Jeremy Deas who was returning from a 3 month imprisonment in China, and also Will Parks who was playing his last game before being deported to Australia for a few months. These three changes seemed to spur Northallerton on as they began to take control of the game with their forwards being dominant in the loose too. Norths cause was helped by a yellow card to a Baildon player for a dangerous tackle on Deas. Park took full advantage with a quick tap penalty from 30 metres out before using his immense bulk to hand off two players and dive swan like over the try line, Bainbridge again with the conversion. With North now a man up, Baildon were struggling to get any of the ball and began to get very frustrated and give away silly penalties. This gave Bainbridge the chance to easily put North in the lead 17-16. Soon after North pulled further away with a unconverted try from winger Joe Grief in the corner. Northallerton capped off a fine second half performance with a last minute converted try from player/coach James Hopkins. Final score 29-16.
Northallerton's next game is January 7th 2017 at home to Halifax.

Northallerton second team had to cancel their away game to Guisborough as not enough players were available - probably Christmas shopping. Hopefully Northallerton 2nds will be able resume again in the new year.

Have a Merry Christmas and good New Year from all at Northallerton Rugby Club.

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