2nd HALF COMEBACK

Northallerton 1st team travelled away to Bramley Phoenix seeking their first league win in six outings. The prospect looked ominous when North suffered the late withdrawal of 3 players on the Friday night and Saturday morning. Despite these setbacks, North managed to overcome the opposition to a well earned 7-17 win.

North as per usual on their travels were slow out of the blocks and allowed Bramley to make the brighter start. Only some good defending from late call ups Charlie Turner and John Harker prevented the home team from taking an early lead. North proceeded to get slowly into the game and led by Captain Don Stone gained more possession and ground without giving away penalties as in previous games. Even vice-captain Richard DonGsdale was resisting his natural urges to handle on the ground and concentrated more on rucking and driving the opposition away. Just as North were beginning to look dangerous, a charge down from a slowlly worked clearance kick, allowed Bramley to touch down under the posts and convert to go 7-0 up. This however did not deter North too much as they still remained calm and collected, particularly fly half Dougie Mulholland who didn’t let the one mistake get to him. With Mulholland’s territorial kicking giving North the advantage they were unlucky not to even the scores before the break. The home team though had a varied and well worked lineout system that allowed them to win and clear their own lines easily. HALF TIME 7-0

North started the second half full of zest and continued to pressure the opposition from the off. Good work from Marc 'Wolfgang' Waldon and Doctor Ian Duddus in midfield caused all sorts of problems for Bramley, before flankers Stone and Steve 'Babyface' Robinson combined for Robinson to go over for his fourth try in five outings, Dan Luck with the successful conversion. North then had a slight change round bringing on the less experienced prop Nicholas Bainbridge for Gary Eden, who had been carrying a slight knock all afternoon. North then began to completely dominate the opposition, especially in the scrums. Bramley began to get frustrated and give away numerous penalties. It was from one of these penalties that Luck put Northallerton in front with a long range effort in a swirling wind. With time running out and Bramley still unable to get any ball North kept the game tight and opted for scrums whenever possible. North gained a scrum on Bramley’s 5 metre line and after three deliberate collapses of the scrum from the home team, the referee rightly awarded a penalty try to Northallerton, Mulholland this time with the conversion. Final score 7-17

Next week North 1sts are at home to York RI.