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North Shields 15 - Rockcliff 15
07/11/2009
By Eric Brookes |
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Rockcliff appeared to be a shadow of the team that demolished Houghton last week as they slipped to second place after only managing a draw in the Malcolm Flockton memorial match against North Shields. |
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On paper Rockcliff should have been favourites for the win as this was a top versus bottom of the league encounter. However, Shields were the team in control during the early exchanges and it took Rockcliff 20 minutes before they started to compete, but by this time they were already 3 points adrift due to a Dave Irwin penalty kick.
Rockcliff started to claw their way back into the game but were playing into the hands of Shields by getting dragged into a battle up front instead of putting the dangerous runners of Tomlinson, Harrison and Scott into space.
Eventually Rockcliff got onto the score sheet as captain Drew Hayton crashed over the gain line before being felled by a Shields cover tackle, the ball was recycled and spun down the back line but Shields were caught offside in midfield. Liam Hurst took the kick at the posts and tied the game going into the second half.
Rockcliff started the second half the way Shields started the first and kept the home side pinned inside their own half for the opening 15 minutes. With the amount of possession Rockcliff had a try was bound to come but, due to some resolute defending from the Shields three quarters who stripped the ball far too many times than coach Tommy Reynolds would like to remember, it never came.
It took until the closing quarter of the match before any further points were scored and it came from a blind side move that set Harrison free up the right wing. Harrison beat his man before passing onto replacement Stu Thomson who offloaded to Tindall, Tindall stepped inside Hansen before racing in to score under the posts. Hurst adding the conversion.
Typically, with 10 minutes left, Rockcliff thought the game was won but a North Shields attack soon proved otherwise as a neat switch of play saw Dave Irwin run down the blind side to score left of the posts, and with Irwin converting his own try the scores were tied again.
Shields had their tails up now and were looking for the win, after a series of penalties Irwin kicked the ball to touch deep inside the Rockcliff 22 and from the resulting line out Shields set up a driving maul. Rockcliff could do nothing about this so close to their own line and Ricky Handa burrowed through to give the home side a five point lead.
With six minutes remaining the game was all but won for Shields but another break from Harrison lead to Rockcliff receiving a penalty inside the opposition 22, Hayton took a quick tap and pinballed through several tackles to score. Unfortunately the conversion was missed and the referee blew for full time.
Next week Rockcliff are at home to Barnard Castle. |
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