The weekend had Northallerton rugby club take to the field with a sweep of men’s, ladies and junior teams in action. The men’s second XV travelled away to Darlington Mowden Park to play their third XV, there was no game for the men’s first XV as their opposition, Sedgefield RUFC, in the cup competition had withdrawn late on. The ladies’ first XV took centre stage at the Lodge on Sunday, hosting their first league
game of the season in a nail biter against Newcastle based side Novocastrians RFC. The U16s boys took on Yarnbury RUFC in a terrific encounter that showed a lot of promise for the season ahead.

Going into the new season, there was understandably a bit of trepidation within the ladies’ camp around how competitive the new league would be. Off the back of a convincing win over Wensleydale Heifers the previous week, a team who also play in this league, some of these nerves had begun to settle. The early exchanges from Novos and North left no doubt to all involved that the fixtures this year would be a real test of character and skill for this group of ladies at Northallerton RUFC. Fierce carrying matched with physicality in defence meant that everyone was tested from the start. North acquitted themselves well against the team who had finished second in the league last year, putting phases of possession together, they managed to work their way up the pitch towards the visitor’s try line. The finer margins to be expected
in games from now on was shown in full force as, after hammering on the Novos defence for ten minutes, a turnover in the tackle saw the ball quickly moved wide and after only a couple of phases and line breaks, it was the away side who opened the scoring by going coast to coast to dot down under the posts against the run of play. The conversion was kicked to add the extras.
Not to be deterred, North went straight back into the fray showing some excellent handling and fluidity to their play as the team. Full back Lucy Patey was the finisher of a fine passage of play that involved every player putting the ball through the hands and recycling quickly to move it into space. Diving over in the corner Patey opened North’s account for the day. This unconverted try gave the hosts the momentum
they needed and after a thorough kick chase from an O’Brien spiral put pressure on the Novo’s full back, North were able to capitalise in the corner again as second row Steph Welford forced her way under a pile a bodies to squeeze the ball over the line and hand North the lead.
Strength of will from both sides was on full display as the visitors mounted an immediate comeback. Again, it was a break against the run of play, built on the back of a solid defensive line that was giving no edge to North’s attack. The battle at the breakdown was fiercely contested and it was one of these turnovers that gave the opportunity for a counter-attack for the away side resulting in a quick score to retake a slender four-point lead. A period of ill discipline followed from the home side as the pressure began to mount heading towards the end of the first half. Prop Amy Pointon was unfortunate to be shown a yellow card for a series of team infringements around the breakdown as Novos tried relentlessly to press home their advantage. As the first half drew to a close, a late try by the visitors meant that they went into the interval with a lead of 10-19.
North resumed play in the second half still down to fourteen on paper, however their performance would have convinced otherwise. Throwing a tremendous level of energy at their opposition they not only saw out the sin bin period without conceding but even managed to mount an attack numbering countless phases of carrying and recycling that led to a well worked try scored in the corner by captain Abby Rollings. An injury to regular kicker O’Brien earlier in the match meant that newcomer Grace White stepped into the role and slotted an excellent conversion from out wide to collect the extra points. The hosts’ comeback was truly accelerating by now and Novos were on the back foot, often scrambling to scupper a try scoring opportunity. Having foiled one such attack by bundling the ball into touch on their five metre line, they managed to collect the lineout and clear the danger for a brief respite.
Undeterred, North regathered themselves and went through the phases of possession once again from inside their own half. The physicality of the home side was beginning to create more gaps as the tackles from the visitors became more passive with fatigue. Centre Emily McCormack, who had been excellent in both attack and defence so far in the match claimed the try she deserved by smashing her way through the would-be tacklers at the culmination of this passage of play. White kicked the conversion to extend the lead. The spectators of the match continued to be treated to a feast of attacking rugby as Novos showed their ambition with the ball, moving it swiftly through the hands at any opportunity, often linking up with neat offloads in the tackle to break through North’s defensive wall. This ambition was rewarded with a try under the posts at the end of breath taking passage of play to level the scores. The conversion was kicked to push the visitors into a two point lead with twenty minutes still to go.
As a conclusion to match goes, what followed in the last quarter of the match was a gripping spectacle of back and forth rugby as both teams looked to take the win. Gina Fothergill, a customary trucker of the ball, had spent most of the afternoon breaking tackles across the pitch and finally found the gap that she needed to dive over in the corner, taking two defenders with her and the ball to bring North back into the lead. Novocastrians were then handed a golden chance which they did not waste as North fumbled the restart kick and gifted the visitors an attacking scrum from which they began to set about the host’s defence, eventually finding a gap out wide to squeeze over for an unconverted try. It was the hosts who had the last say in the game however, as the encouragement of the crowd roared the team on to find the reserves of energy needed to mount one last attack. Phase after phase of rugby saw the team creep towards the visitors try line and, with a sense of inevitability, Nat Gardiner spotted a small gap beside a ruck on the try line and drove her way over it to ground the ball and take back the lead with only a minute on the clock.
Novos were eager to get back quickly to halfway line to restart the game and give themselves a last chance to snatch victory. Defending with a desperation and cohesion that speaks volumes of the character of the squad they navigated the last throws of the game to close out the win with a final score of Northallerton 34 – Novocastrians 31. An entertaining and enthralling game to watch that has given North their leg up in this new league. A big thank you to the referee for officiating the game, to Novocastrians for travelling in good spirits and numbers, and to the many supporters, volunteers and helpers at the club who make the day happen.

No game for the men’s first XV meant that the second XV travelled with a full squad to play local side Mowden Park third XV. The weather certainly made for a challenging encounter, torrential rain and wind made passing, offloading, kicking or indeed any of the facets of the game beyond brute physicality very difficult to negotiate. Captain Ben Gray opened the scoring for the visitors in response to a couple of early tries by Mowden. Their threat of ball in hand in the backs proved very difficult for the visitors to deal with and, despite some good continuity of play when in possession, North were unable to scramble effectively in defence to prevent the breakaway tries that often came against the run of play to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Centre Joe Grieff had excelled in the first half with his carrying and physicality and was rewarded with a well taken try as he crashed over through the defence at the culmination of a long passage of play. The hosts were quick to reply and went into the half time break with a commanding lead. Throughout the second half the weather conditions continued to deteriorate and dominate the way in which the game could be played. North’s strength in the scrum and up front was brought to bear upon the hosts who often saw themselves retreating at the set piece. In spite of a consolation score from winger Ben Pilling on the rare occasion he managed to get ball in hand with any space, Mowden were able to register several tries later in the match to take the score board away from North and take the victory with a final score of Mowden Park 32 – Northallerton 15. A valiant display from both sides to play in the conditions available. A big thank you to Mowden for their hospitality, to the referee for officiating the game and to the supporters who braved the elements to cheer on the team.

Sunday morning saw North’s under 16s take on Yarnbury RUFC in the team’s third game of the season and Yarnbury’s first. The heavy rain on the Saturday had made doubts about the viability of the pitch however the rain had soaked away and the match went ahead. The first twenty minutes of the game was a steady tussle as both sides showed rustiness and struggled to get into their rhythm. Gradually, building on their defensive qualities, North’s attack began to click and what followed was an impressive display of cohesive, flowing rugby. As the match moved into the second half, both sides had their chances to score tries and took them in style. With around a quarter of an hour to go, the consensual decision was taken to move the game towards a more training style encounter. With the pressure taken off, the glimpses of flowing rugby that had been witnessed later in the match began to blossom fully and both sides seemed to enjoy their more open play in the last quarter of the game. Many brilliant individual moments stood out from the encounter. The challenge for the rest of the season is to build the team cohesion that helps the squad progress as a whole. Plenty to look forward to for a promising group of players.

For any readers wanting to join the club this season, please see our social media pages for more information. The men train on Tuesday and Thursday 7pm, the ladies train on Wednesday 7pm and the juniors play on Saturday 10am. All ages and abilities welcome.