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Blaydon Team Northumbria travelled to Lichfield in the West Midlands, for their first away contest of the season.
Right from the start, Lichfield set a fiery pace. The visitors didn’t react well to this, trying to match them and consequently executing their own game plan poorly. Attacking moves were inadequately supported and were quickly snuffed out – often losing possession in the process. For their part Lichfield failed to take advantage of clear overlap opportunities, poor handling letting them down. At set pieces, the scrum was evenly matched, though Blaydon were not fully settled and have performed better. Lichfield successfully disrupted the lineout with excellent jumping at the front contributing to poor throws and the visitors’ failure to secure possession. A short injury stoppage enabled Blaydon to regroup. The following scrum was much more convincing, setting up a good platform for a move involving the back row and the backs which resulted in a try between the posts, run in by Louise Leonard. Kate Hall successfully kicked the conversion to add a further two points. The score remained 7-0 to Blaydon Team Northumbria at the break.
In the second half, the failure of Blaydons solid defensive line to advance to meet the attacking players enabled the home team to pile on the pressure. This lead to penalties been given away, giving Lichfield further territory. Their use of the rolling maul at the lineout was very effective, drawing Blaydons forwards in, to give space for the backs to attack. A tackle by fly half Suzi Newton close to the line and the ball being held up over the line by scrum half Ruth Scott kept the score to zero, but a solid drive from the resulting scrum resulted in a try for the home team. The conversion was missed.
Lichfield made much shorter work of their second score, effectively off-loading from tackles and determined attacking runs carving through the Blaydon defence to add a further five points. Again the conversion was missed.
Play was evenly balanced for much of the remainder of the game, with the quality of set pieces and tackling improving from both teams. The breakthrough for Blaydon came with ten minutes to go, hooker Rachel Hayes making space to set full back Melanie Christie clear for a 1/2 pitch run along the touch line to score the second try for Blaydon Team Northumbria. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful. During the closing minutes, the visitors concentrated on defence, discipline and retaining possession. The final score remained at 12-10, the first win to Blaydon Team Northumbria in Premier 1.
Head of Rugby, Bruce Cornelius summarised the performance as, “A determined and gutsy effort”.
Blaydon Team Northumbria’s second womens team was also in action, winning their home fixture against Morpeth 38-22.
Next games: 15/10/06 1st XI Home v Richmond,
2nd XI Away v Darlington
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