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Robinson delighted with Darlington’s crucial win
DARLINGTON coach Kevin
Robinson was relieved and delighted
after his much-improved
side hung on to their North One
lifeline with a 20-7 win at
Sheffield Tigers.
Victory in their final game at
home to Birkenhead Park this
week will seal their safety and
the Merseysiders have nothing
left to play for after losing the
EDF Intermediate Cup final
against Chester.
"We started really well," said
Robinson. "They came back at
us to level it at 7-7, but we were
in control in the second half,
even when we were twice down
to 14 men through yellow cards.
"Our replacement prop, Bill
Smith, pulled off an amazing
tackle with ten minutes to go
when he flung himself fulllength
and caught their scrum
half's ankle three yards short of
the line. It summed up the attitude
that they weren't going to
cross our line.
"Evan Haigh was absolutely
outstanding at full back, Andrew
Pugh stood out in an excellent
midfield defensive effort
and Charlie Catterall is on a roll
with his try-scoring."
Fly half Catterall opened the
scoring when he sliced through
from 15 metres and after Tigers
drew level Haigh gave Darlington
a 12-7 half-time lead.
From a ruck 40 metres out he
burst through several tackles up
the left and carried two opponents
over with him.
He added a penalty shortly
after half-time, and the third try
came when winger Adam
Kibirige made a good break and
slipped the ball inside for lock
Chris Palesci to touch down.
Blaydon's hopes of visiting the
picturesque Wharfedale ground
on a fine spring day were dashed
as overnight snow had left the
pitch soggy and the match was
played in driving rain.
It was a poor advert for National
Two rugby and after making
a good start with the elements
in their favour Blaydon
slowly declined and lost 33-10.
They weren't helped by losing
prop James Isaacson after 12
minutes with a leg injury and replacement
Paul Winter was one
of three Blaydon players to be
sin-binned. As one of those was
skipper Dave Guthrie for dissent,
it summed up their frustration
with an over-zealous referee.
Ironically, Blaydon held out
for the seven-minute period in
which they were down to 13 men
but began to ship points as soon
as they were back to full
strength.
They took the lead when the
forwards rumbled over and
flanker Andy Wright touched
down, but Wharfedale replied
with a similar effort and a second
converted try put them 14-5
up before they failed to gather
the ball when Blaydon full back
Simon Barber ran out of defence
and chipped ahead.
Wright grabbed the ball and
sent centre Martin Shaw on a 40-
metre run to the line, but despite
15 minutes of pressure at the
start of the second half Blaydon
failed to score again. Wharfedale
added three more tries and two
conversions.
West Hartlepool clinched the
North Two East title with a 35-9
win at Gateshead. Even if they
lose their final game at home to
Hartlepool Rovers and Durham
City win at Aspatria, City are
not going to close the points difference
gap of 79.
City are certain to finish second
after winning 29-14 at home
to Pontefract, but it still remains
to be seen whether they will entertain
Stockport or Broughton
Park in the play-off.
Young lock Tom Dixon scored
two of West's five tries at
Gateshead, who were still in it at
15-9 at half-time thanks to three
penalties by David Kell.
Fly half Paul Moss landed two
penalties for West in a personal
tally of 15 points as he also
scored a try and added two conversions.
Wingers Rob Thorn and Colin
Cheslin completed the try-scoring.
Rovers gave themselves a
chance of survival with a third
successive win when they beat
Aspatria 17-11 after trailing 11-
0 at half-time.
Two tries in five minutes with
the wind behind them turned the
game in Rovers' favour, both
coming from long range.
First Chris Sainty started and
finished a move, then full back
Mark Shires handed off a couple
of tacklers to charge over. Sainty's
conversion gave Rovers the
lead and Brian Foreman's try
sealed the win.
Rovers are to stage the
Durham Junior Cup final between
Stockton and Barnard
Castle on April 26.
Stockton continued their winning
run with a 34-19 victory at
home to Alnwick, who twice narrowed
the gap with breakaway
tries in the second half.
But at 24-19 Stockton fly half
Jeremy Good kicked a penalty
into the wind and with eight
minutes left skipper Mark Skirving
got the touchdown when
they rumbled over from a fivemetre
scrum
Stockton's other tries came
from flanker Anthony Parkinson,
prop Sean Willis and winger
Simon Crozier, with Good landing
all four conversions plus two
penalties.
Stockton's final league game
this week is at Billingham, for
whom victory will clinch the
Durham and Northumberland
One title following their resounding
55-12 win at Sunderland.
9:49am Monday 14th April 2008
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