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Pools started brightly against a heavyweight Rockcliffe pack by trying to move the ball away at every opportunity from the ruck and maul area. Initial success saw the ball moved close to the Rockliffe line, only for possession to be lost. The visitors scrum half cleared the ball down field where Dean Ryan took possession to set off on one of his trademark runs across field, before straightening up in midfield. The enigmatic winger then cleverly chipped over the top of the oncoming defence, before collecting the ball and passing onto his supporting winger, Chris Williamson, who drew the last defender to feed back to Ryan to cross over for a fantastic individual effort in the top left hand corner of the field. Pools were playing with pace in their back line, following on from the hard graft by their forwards in securing possession, with the back row of Andy Palmer, Andy Woodward and Alan Brown dominating their heavier opponents at the break down area. Full back, Patrick Wilson crashed through, only to be stopped illegally 10 metres out, with scrum half, Tom King, nearly catching Rockliffe out with a quick tap penalty, for the ball to be unluckily knocked on by the bullocking Ray Hughes close to the line.
The Rockliffe forwards started to win some possession for their backs, but the tendency was to kick the ball down field too often. Unfortunately for the home team, one apparent aimless kick took a wicked bounce towards the home teams goal line and the referee gave a penalty under the posts, which was easily converted by Rockliffe. Pools thought they had increased their lead when a clever back row move involving interplay between Brown and Woodward, saw King power towards the corner before being tackled. Good rucking by Stewart Hind and Carl Hanson, saw the ball worked to Ryan to cross, but play was brought back for a forward pass. Pools increased their lead following a break out of defence from Ian Coulson, with his centre colleague Lewis Humble in support to keep the ball moving, before Pools eventually went blind through a strong run from Wilson, who fed Ryan, who then unselfishly passed inside for Brown to score in the corner.
Another home try soon followed when the dynamic King again went blind before passing onto Ryan to give the winger a stroll into the corner to score. On the stroke of half time, Rockliffe put in a sustained period of pressure, but resolute home defence, with props Brett Cullaine and Mick Hall prominent, prevented a score to give Pools a half time lead of 15-3.
Hartlepool took a calculated risk in substituting club stalwart Stewart Hind for the rampaging Suliano Tubuna at the start of the second half, with Palmer going into the second row. Pools quickly secured good possession and drove strongly at the Rockliffe line through Hall and Cullaine, with the visitors conceding a penalty. A training ground move saw the rapier Tubuna power through to score, with Adam Redhead adding the conversion. Soon after, Dave Ryan was introduced onto the field for Woodward in the back row. After another rollicking run, Cullaine suffered a serious knee injury which eventually forced him off the field, to be replaced by Kris Webster. Rockliffe realised that they needed to use their power up front if they had any chance to get back in the game, and slowly managed to take the ball up field close to the Pools line. From a 5 metre scrum they went for a push over try, only for their number 8 to knock on in the act of scoring. Unfortunately, hooker Hughes suffered an injury which meant the game diminished to uncontested scrums for the final 15 minutes of play. Pools cleared the danger, and then went on the offensive with a clever break from Humble, supported by King, who then released Dave Ryan to batter through the Rockliffe defence before passing onto Captain Brown to score. To their credit, Rockliffe kept persevering, and were rewarded with a try through their centre, after a good break from their stand off. After a difficult pre-season, a large crowd at Mayfield Park gave a great cheer when referee John Fenton signalled the end of the game.
This was a good team performance against a well drilled side for Pools, with captain Brown aware that they will still need to step up their game several levels over the forthcoming weeks. On the injury front, Pools should have props Andy Cummins and Steve Ward back soon, along with backs Ian Bond, Lee Dodgson and Paul Burgon, who are all expected to start training again next month, which will strengthen the side in the run up to the New Year break. Player of the match for Pools was scrum half Tom King, who was lively throughout and distributed well to his backs.
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NEXT FIXTURE
Pre-season training
VENUE
meet Mayfield Park 645pm
DATE
Tuesday 23rd June
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