Anyone who had turned up at Greenwood Road on Saturday expecting a tense, closely fought affair was to leave the ground at full time feeling satisfied. This was a game that had the lot. Points, tries, good and bad play, vociferous support, questionable refereeing, injustice and the added bonus of a 53 minute second half! The extended half of the match finally came to an end with Tech valiantly trying to snatch a point from a highly charged afternoon.
It had proved to be a frustrating afternoon for the Hartlepool club. Not only because the chance of two points from an ultimately winnable game had been blown but also because they had found themselves on the wrong end of two key moments in the match. Both it could be argued, played a vital role in the final result.
The first moment came 14 minutes into the match. Having fallen behind to an early Billingham try scored by flanker Ker after some powerful running by the home teams’ backs, Tech regrouped well and following an attacking lineout, gained after Billingham had infringed on their own 22, hooker Dixon was driven over. Cole’s conversion levelled the scores. Then, from the restart Tech gathered the ball and Corbett fired back a pass for Wilson to clear down the field. Sadly for Tech the second phase of this plan didn’t materialise. Either Wilson suffered from a momentary lapse or Corbett’s pass was off target, either way, the ball flew past the fly half, the onrushing Billingham team recovered the ball and winger Evans was sent over with Gowing’s second conversion making it 14-7.
Shaken by this event, Tech allowed Billingham to settle into a comfortable rhythm. The home teams backline constantly asked questions of the Tech defence, and after a restart following a Gowing penalty miss, a good break from Hutchinson saw Ker sent over for his second try and Billingham’s third to put the hosts 19-7 up.
Gowing spurned another penalty chance soon after before Tech mounted a spirited fight back towards the end of the half. Playing to their strengths in the forwards, they gained another attacking line and another good drive saw them claim an unconverted try through Andrew Thompson.
On with the second half. If the first key incident had been sculptured by Tech themselves then the second was down to a combination of both dishonesty and astute thinking on Billingham’s behalf. Tech had started the second half well and Cole had reduced the deficit to 19-15 with a 46th minute penalty. From the restart, Tech skipper Jones was harshly penalised for not releasing, giving Billingham the opportunity to cancel out Cole’s strike. Gowing’s kick fell short however and Simon Cavey gathered the ball and cleared towards the touchline on halfway. Here, winger Shepherd caught the ball and at the same time, clearly put a foot into touch, something heartily acknowledged by the Tech support. However, with both referee and touch judge unsighted due to the penalty kick, Shepherd inexplicably carried on playing. Tech, owing to the referee’s indecision and the visiting support’s shouts, froze slightly, and after being passed through several pairs of hands, the ball was touched down by Dalton. Incensed, Tech crucially lost their composure. The home team took full advantage and just 3 minutes later, the other winger, Evans broke through some disorganised defence, chipped over Corrigan and collected to score another unconverted try and his second of the match.
Billingham then had several chances to put the game away, most noticeably when lock Kawa-Kameni knocked on with the line at his mercy, but as in the first half, Tech came back strongly at the end and following a series of repelled attacks, Adam Howard emerged from the back of a ruck to go over untouched. Cole’s conversion meant that only one converted try now separated the teams and 3 minutes into injury time it appeared that Howard had again scored only for the effort to be disallowed for a double movement.
Ten more minutes of tense action followed but unfortunately for Tech, a point could not be salvaged, a point that in all fairness, they probably deserved.
Billingham 29
Tries: M Ker (4, 23), M Evans (14, 53), Dalton (50)
Cons: Gowing (4, 14)
Tech 22
Tries: Dixon (13), Thompson (35), Howard (73)
Cons: Cole (13, 73)
Pens: Cole (46)
Billingham
C Shepherd, M Evans, Gowing, C Ker (c), P Shepherd, J Evans, Burgum, Robinson, Amos, Montador, Kawa-Kameni, Dalton, Hutchinson, M Ker, Durnion
Scrums 9, Attacking scrums 0, Scrums won on own put in 7, Scrums lost on own put in 2, Pens awarded 7, Kicked at goal 3 (3 misses), Kicked for touch 3, Ran 1, Lineouts won on own throw 9, Lineouts lost on own throw 3
Tech
Knight, Cole, Parker (Corrigan), Cavey, Corrigan (Jones), Wilson, Corbett (Parker), Smart, Jones (Howard), Campbell, Jukes, Thompson (Vincent), Palmer, Dixon, Mason
Scrums 12, Attacking scrums 1, Scrums won on own put in 10, Scrums lost on own put in 2, Pens awarded 17, Kicked at goal 2 (1 miss), Kicked for touch 13, Ran 2, Lineouts won on own throw 16, Lineouts lost on own throw 4