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 Whitby
17 - Rockcliff 22
Rockcliff travelled
down to Whitby for their fourth league game of this campaign and came away
with a good result from a place that has never been a happy hunting ground
in the past. With Terry Macauley unavailable captain Sam Stirling moved to
stand off, with Ian Wann coming in at centre.
Rockcliff won the toss and
decided to use the slope and strong wind in first half and from the first
kick off the visitors showed their intent as flanker Noel Mather timed his
tackle brilliantly resulting in turnover ball for Rockcliff. The ball was
passed out down the backs but after a few phases it resulted in a penalty to
Whitby. As the Whitby stand off tried to kick to touch, the wind was too
strong and the ball stayed in field. Winger Simon Tindall gathered the ball
and ran back into the Whitby 22, stepped inside his marker, and, despite
being tackled, popped the ball up from the ground to fly half Sam Stirling
who scored in corner. Stirling added a brilliant touch line conversion to
take the score to 7-0 after just two minutes of play.
All the play was in Whitby’s 22, and the Rockcliff pack dominated with some
excellent driving mauls, making about 15 metres each time. Scrum half Ross
Bailey marshalled his pack well and with 18 minutes gone, Whitby collapsed
a maul in front of their posts and Stirling kicked the resultant penalty
extending the lead to 10-0.
Rockcliff kept the pressure on the home side but they couldn’t convert their
dominance into points. Whitby conceded a series of penalties which Rockcliff
failed to take advantage of, but eventually the pressure looked likely to
pay off as Rockcliff took a scrum, Bailey passed the ball down the backs,
and as number eight Andy Burrows looped round to take the ball on for what
looked to be a certain try the pass was intercepted by the Whitby full back
who raced up field to score under the posts. The try was converted and
Whitby had pulled the score back to 7-10 with 25 minutes gone.
Once again Rockcliff took up camp in the Whitby 22. With 34 minutes gone
Rockcliff’s second row Jimmy Carson appeared in the back line, drew two
defenders and passed behind them to full back Craig Tomlinson but the
referee decided it was a forward pass. Rockcliff then took a scrum just
inside the Whitby half, Bailey passed out to Stirling and Ian Wann came in
for a switch move but Stirling faked the pass, popped to himself,
straightened up and ran 30 metres before passing to the supporting figure
of second row Neil Thornton. He set up a driving maul heading straight for
Whitby's posts which Whitby couldn’t hold and Jimmy Carson drove over to
score. Stirling converted to extend the lead to 17-7, which is how it
remained until the end of the half.
At half time Rockcliff had to reshuffle their back line as winger Mick
Turnbull had to go off with a broken toe, so Tony Hansen made a welcome
return to first team action at Rockcliff, coming in at scrumhalf, with Ross
Bailey moving to stand off, Sam Stirling to outside centre, and Ali Harper
out to the wing.
Luckily for Rockcliff the elements moved in their favour as the wind dropped
and the strong sun was obscured behind clouds. The second half started off
as a bit of a midfield battle and Whitby hadn’t given up the ghost with
their back three, especially their full back, look very sharp and quick,
with the full back making good ground whenever he got the ball.
Whitby eventually got into the Rockcliff 22 and kicked a penalty to close
the score to Whitby 10 - Rockcliff 17 with just six minutes of the half
gone.
Rockcliff then re-established their territorial advantage, with some good
phases of play in the Whitby half but again they could not convert this
pressure into points. A score looked likely when the Flying Yorkshireman,
Craig Tomlinson, joined the line from full back and ran across the pitch
creating an overlap for an almost certain try. Winger Simon Tindall came in
to support, looking for a scissors pass, but was tackled without the ball by
the Whitby number eight, which the referee missed and Tomlinson was bundled
into touch.
The visitors kept the momentum up and Stirling was unlucky to hit the post
from a penalty, but for the next fifteen minutes the game went flat until
Burrows picked from a scrum and popped to Hansen who drew the defence and
passed out to winger Ali Harper. He broke down the blind side, beating his
opposite number and as the Whitby full back came across to tackle, Harper
did the famous Matt Dawson Lions overhead dummy pass which worked a treat
and he ran up wing to score just right of the posts. The conversion was
missed and with 33 minutes on the clock the score as 22-10 to Rockcliff.
Whitby then rallied and Rockcliff found themselves camped on their own try
line, but some great tackling from Andy Burrows and Noel Mather kept them
out. However this could not be kept up and it was only a matter of time
before a driving maul from Whitby saw them score their second of game. They
converted it to set up a nail biting finish with the score Whitby 17 –
Rockcliff 22.
Rockcliff had the last word as they took to ball down field, and tempers
began to fray as Whitby collapsed a series of scrums on their own line.
Tindall was unlucky to have a try disallowed in the dying moments, but
Rockcliff clung on to make sure they came away with the points.
Next week Rockcliff are in league action again, at home to Winlaton.
Rockcliff vs Whitby Rocky Montage:
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Rockcliff 2nd XV 7 – Border Park
RFC 22
A second defeat in a row
for the Vikings, this time to a strong Border Park outfit. This was good
game, despite the score line, and if the Vikings could have kept their cool
it could have been a much close result.
Border Park dominated the
first half, running in two tries (one converted), and scoring a penalty to
open a 15-0 half time lead. In the second half the Vikings rallied and
Fijian centre Waka scored the try of the game, cutting through the Park
defence like a hot knife through butter to score a brilliant solo try. Chris
Foster added the conversion to close the gap to 15-7.
Border Park however added a
late converted try to seal the game at 22-7.
Next week the Vikings are
away in the league at Ryton. |