High-flying Blaydon are brought down to earth (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

High-flying Blaydon are brought down to earth

9:22am Monday 22nd September 2008

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BLAYDON fans and officials who took the flight to Plymouth thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere among the 800 fans at Redruth, even though their team lost 38-12.

Both teams had won their opening two games, but although makeshift scrum half Chris Clark did well enough the absence of key players proved costly for Blaydon.

Clark and replacement prop Darren Fearn, who had only been on for ten minutes, were sin-binned in the second half as Redruth extended their 16- 7 lead to 33-7 before No 8 Jason Smithson got on the end of a good move to score for Blaydon.

Redruth fly half Mark Scrivener, coming back after a lengthy absence through injury, converted three of the four tries and succeeded with all his four penalty attempts.

He kicked three penalties in the first half and converted a try by full back Rob Thirlby, a former England Sevens player, for a 16-7 interval lead.

Blaydon had competed well and scored a try through winger Ben Mercer, converted by Andrew Baggett, but Redruth always had the edge and Thirlby scored again as they forged ahead.

Tynedale won a fast, open game 45-30 at home to Wharfedale, with Newcastle’s ex-Rugby League winger Danny Williams stepping smartly inside for the first try on his debut.

The other winger, Fraser Shaw, also scored a converted try as Tynedale led 14-13 at half-time and he crossed again as they added four tries in 15 minutes.

Centres Jack Harrison and Rob Miller, plus scrum half Ross Sansom, got the others with Miller converting all the tries and adding a penalty. ormMoentre Mark Bedwoth scored a try, two penalties and two conversions.

Darlington were unlucky to lose 19-17 at Beverley in North One, where they had three tries disallowed. For the final one the hosts knocked on over the line, Ollie Mabbutt dropped on the ball and the referee awarded a five-metre scrum.

Darlington also spurned two good chances in the last five minutes in a match in which they had more than 60 per cent of the possession.

Ex-colt Luke Murphy scored a good try to add to a penalty by Alex Lineton for an 8-3 interval lead, but two converted breakaway tries put Beverley 17-8 ahead.

Darlington hooker Michael Stowe scored from a driving maul and 17-year-old fly half Nick Baldwin capped a good debut by converting from the touchline.

West Hartlepool conceded a late penalty to lose 22-20 at Stockport, adding to their pain after seeing flanker Jonny Boatman carried off with a badly-broken ankle.

Despite a knock-on, Stockport were awarded a try just before half-time to lead 14-10 and they scored again after Paul Moss’s second penalty had cut the gap to one point.

Full back Iain Dixon’s second converted try edged West in front, but Stockport’s kicker made sure with the second of two late chances.

Flanker Matt Wright scored twice and scrum half Peter Wright once as Middlesbrough won their North One match 39-0 at home to West Park St Helens, who have lost players following relegation.

Boro were under pressure for the first 15 minutes, but then worked the ball out for debutant winger Peter Homan to score with his first touch of the ball.

Tries by Matt Wright and centre Rob Bellerby, plus two conversions by fly half Simon O’Farrell, made it 19-0 at halftime.

A typical sniping run by Peter Wright saw him dart under the posts from a maul just outside the 22, then an excellent move involving backs and forwards was finished off by Matt Wright.

More high-speed work by the backs produced the final try for winger Andy Mickelwright and O’Farrell capped a good performance by adding a penalty.

Boro’s win was marred 20 minutes from time by flanker Gavin Fingland breaking a leg in two places.

Billingham made it two wins from two following promotion to North Two East with a 14-6 victory at Durham City.

City started well and kicked an early penalty, but they had to defend well until stretching their lead to 6-0 just before half-time when Billingham failed to clear and infringed at the breakdown in front of the posts.

In a scrappy second half Billingham eventually burst away as City ran out of steam.

Peter Evans made several searing breaks, two of which made tries for brother Joe, both converted by Peter.

Hartlepool Rovers lead D and N division one after a 20- 14 win at Alnwick. Chris Sainty extended their 15-7 lead with a solo try after converting a try by Gareth Foreman and adding a penalty. Michael Barnfield scored the other try.

Stockton, without five firstchoice forwards plus fly half Jeremy Good, lost 20-15 at home to Ryton aftr leading 15- 8 with 15 minutes left.

Ex-Billingham prop Alan Fairhurst burrowed over from a penalty and centre Simon Crozier scored a good try, while full back Matt Brown kicked a penalty and a conversion.

But Ryton came back with two tries from halfway, the second one from a speculative kick which Stockton failed to deal with four minutes from time.

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