Early on it had looked as though the game would be a one sided affair. Two tries in the opening quarter of an hour - first from Carlo Robinson then front row colleague Andrew Dixon - had given West the lead. At that stage it seemed as though City were going to be overpowered but as the half progressed the hosts lost any threat they had going forward due to the most basic of errors. The number of dropped passes and knock-ons mounted with forwards and backs alike guilty of trying to force things that weren’t on rather than keeping it simple.
As City gained parity up front and came back into the game James Walker hit a penalty goal to close the gap on the half hour but Phil Wallis had the opportunity to cancel it out just before half time with a simple penalty in front of the posts, however he skewed the attempt wide.
The message at half-time had to be “hold on to the ball” but unfortunately for West the second half brought much the same as the first. City continued to build in confidence and two more Walker penalties cut the gap to just a single point.
Frustration was apparent on the field and on the sidelines and it took until the 63rd minute for West to extend the lead once again. A long rolling maul set up a good position in the 22 and when the ball was moved wide, and not dropped, Peter Hodgson broke a tackle to go in under the posts. Painter, a half-time replacement for Wallis, added the conversion – in unorthodox fashion bouncing off crossbar and post!
Even this try failed to settle the West side and the errors continued – the game becoming extremely scrappy and dominated by scrums. The best try was saved until last and fittingly Andrew Davies, on his return to first team rugby, was the scorer. A quick City lineout in the West half went wrong and Painter pounced on the ball and raced up-field. He collected his own chip ahead and fed the ball inside to a storming Davies who finished off the score.
West know they will have to play better this season but you can’t argue with a win and at least they can build on the performance knowing the first two points are already in the bank. The biggest positive was solid defence for most of the afternoon, which hardly looked like conceding a try, but the number of dropped passes in fine conditions would be the main cause for concern.
West: Thomas, Weegram, Hodgson, Howe, Hare, Wallis (Painter), Williamson, Carr, A Dixon, Robinson (Cullinane), Rudd, Davies, D Boatman (Garside), Tones, J Boatman.
Tries: Robinson, A Dixon, Hodgson, Davies
Con: Painter
Durham City: Mattison, Walker, Dias, Knowles, Herbert, Reay, McCreedy, Willetts, Nichols, Archbald, Smithson, Showler, Thompson, Mackinnon, Horry
Reps: Davison, Dent, Arkley
Pens: Walker 3
Referee: Ray Sutherland [Durham Society]
Related Links:
Durham City Preview
|
Author: tonesys mam
Date: 10-09-07 11:10
it was tonesys who scored the second try and it was him who passed it to chocy to score the last try wot game were you whatching?
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: MikeyBoy
Date: 10-09-07 11:11
good to get a win under the belt and there were some really good performances, especially in the forwards. Lots of dropped balls but hopefully that can be put down to it being the first match of the season. Morpeth are a team we should be able to beat but we'll have to improve on Saturday's performance to do it.
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: West Park Allotment
Date: 10-09-07 14:46
Again a very fair report. I'm putting all the handling errors down to rustiness.
Hopefully the players will be a bit more relaxed next week.
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Contact SportNetwork.net | Join Us: Official | Join Us: Unofficial | Advertise on SportNetwork.net | Complain | Our Links
