ThirdsAms 32 Seaton IIs 5

By Chris Harrison - September 17 2007
ThirdsAms 32 Seaton IIs 5
West 3rds second game of the season was at home to Seaton 2nds in the Tees Valley League. >
A bright sunny day saw West take the game to the visitors straight from the start. A knock on from the kick off by Seaton brought a scrum from which scrum half Stu Waites broke blind and when just caught near the line he was able to pop off to the supporting No 8, Paul Oliver who went over wide out. A few minutes later Seaton were penalised and Waites took a quick tap to jink his way to the line where once again he was tackled but able to pop up to the supporting hooker, Ross Wood, who crashed over. A penalty by Waites on the half hour took the score to 13-0. Centre Scott Butcher was able to thwart a Seaton attack and stripped the ball from the tackled player and set up a driving maul. Waites spotted their was no depth to the Seaton defence and chipped over for winger Scott Parker to win the race for the touchdown. Waites converted with a great kick from wide out. Just on the stroke of half time Wood was able to grab his second try from a line out. Seaton had conceded a penalty which Waites put in the corner. The line out was won cleanly and driven to the line where Wood had the simple task of dropping over the line. Half-Time - West 25 Seaton 0 Butcher was able to cross early in the 2nd half when a mistake in the West back line looked like a move had petered out however Butcher recovered the ball threw a great dummy to the looping evergreen Graham Frankland and accelerated over the line from 20 yards out. Waites converted from in front of the posts (32-0). Unfortunately this was to be Butcher’s last major contribution to the game as he was shortly to dislocate his elbow. Seaton player coach, Mark Appleyard, sportingly stopped the game immediately as he realised something was wrong. As far as West went this was the end of the game for them as the injury and the resulting delay to the game knocked the wind out of their sails. Seaton were able to pull a try back with a well worked try along their backs which saw the left winger go over in the corner. Then hooker Wood nearly grabbed his hat trick only to be adjudged by the ref to have made a double movement. Full-Time - West 32 Seaton 5 So a good win for the team with the starting XV again containing 11 players under 21 although stalwarts Frankland, Claydon and Wilkinson ensured the average age was not too low. Highlights of the game were the play of the forwards who played with a lot more maturity than their ages suggest using a very powerful driving maul to good effect all through the game. Scrum half Waites was a thorn in Seaton’s side all afternoon and full back Luke Mallinson made an excellent senior debut with a couple of try saving tackles and long distance clearances.