Heughers 21 Ponteland 24

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as yet again we were plagued by late cry-offs and unavailability but regardless of this the lads who turned out showed fantastic commitment and never gave up almost pinching the game towards the end.

Ponteland were gifted a shot at goal in the first minute after Liam Armstrong took the kick and drove in well but was judged to have held onto the ball, the kick was well wide.

Rovers got into the game with strong runs from Mick Railton, Dave Gregory and Liam Armstrong who was driving well from the base of the scrum. After 5 minutes pressurising the Ponteland line Daz Fawcett fed an inside ball to Gregory to cross over for a try converted by Daz, 7 – 0.

A number of sloppy penalties followed for discrepancies at the line and ruck giving the visitors another chance to get points on the board but a second penalty went wide. Rovers defended well and worked their way back up the pitch to camp on the try line but were unable to cross from a number of forward drives.

Ponteland fought back but good tackling kept the visitors in their own half particularly from Armstrong, both Railtons and Thompson at full back who took a number of high balls and ran them back with interest.

Ponteland eventually turned pressure into points driving a rolling maul over for an unconverted try at the stroke of half time, 7 – 5. Unfortunately during this passage of play Liam Armstrong took a knock to the head and had to leave the field so Rovers were down to 14 men for the rest of the game.

Armstrong’s hard tackling and strong runs were badly missed in the second half and the visiting pack started to boss the game. A couple of missed tackles during a simple passage gave Ponteland the lead with a converted try and this was followed by a third using the rolling maul to good effect taking the score to 7 – 17.

The Heughers were on the ropes but a kick by Daz that had the wind and a luck bounce took them up to the try line and after a few scrums and close drives Squid McGuire crossed for a try converted by Daz, 14 – 17.

Next it was Ponteland’s turn for a bit of luck, they came back hard but only scored when a chip from the winger deflected into the hands of the number 5 who galloped over for a converted try, 14 – 24. This was a harsh blow for Rovers and more pressure followed but great defence from Thompson, Montgomery and Fleet turned things around to give Gregory the opportunity to break storming 60 metres up the pitch. Quick ruck ball followed and went across the backs for Thompson to score, Daz converting, 24 – 21.

Rovers continued the pressure for the last 10 minutes and Ponteland lost a prop to the bin but the winning score just didn’t come for them. Final score 21 – 24.

Despite the many changes from our last game a great display by everyone especially the under 17 lads, Monty, Taz, Tom Little and Army. Also the youthful Wally who played out of his skin, Fleety who stepped into the second row and especially Squid who has moved from wing to flanker to prop to help the team.