Consett kicked off in this Durham Intermediate Cup final towards the clubhouse end of the ground at Hollow Drift. They immediately had the chance to test the Rovers defence as Rovers knocked the kick off on.
Consett set about going through the phases and when the backrow hit a line close to the ruck, Rover’s player Vincent was knocked out when he got his head on the wrong side in the tackle, referee Mr Williams stopped the game with a penalty advantage to Consett and Armstrong replaced the injured player with barely 2 mins played. Consett kicked the resultant penalty to the corner for an attacking lineout, the Consett pack secured the ball and moved the attack infield with the Consett centres running hard for the try-line, good initial Rovers tackling kept them out but the ball was switched to the Consett stand-off PAULUS, he dummied and split the Rovers defence to go over near to the posts for the try, the conversion was made by COOK (0-7, 4 Mins).

Rovers set about getting their own driving game going and good drives by the Rovers pack allowed them to work their way into the Consett half, where the ball was moved left to Railton who powered down the wing, he was tackled 10 metres from the Consett line, Consett were penalised for hands in the ruck slowing the Rovers ball. The penalty was kicked to the corner and Rovers won the lineout and drove for the line, once again Consett fell foul of the referee and he gave Rovers another penalty advantage, Barnfield was on to it in a flash and drove for the line scoring a ‘try’ unfortunately the referee was on the wrong side and could not see a clean grounding of the ball, so he brought the play back to the original penalty and yellow carded the Consett 2ndrow LADDS. Rovers continued to press and moved the ball to the right-hand touch line, some controlled rucking allowed them to edge their way to the Consett try-line and LLOYD hit a good line to force his way over for the try which was converted by Foreman. (7-7, 16 Mins).
Rovers where now completely on top and were winning a number of penalties as Consett struggled to keep them at bay, on the 3rd penalty award in quick succession FOREMAN, slotted a 30 Metre kick (10-7, 25 Mins).

On 30 mins Rovers once again worked their way into the Consett half, and a clever grubber kick through was chased hard by the Rovers outside backs forcing Consett to step into touch 5 Metres out for a Rovers lineout. Rovers had driven the previous lineouts to good effect but an error in the lineout meant that the ball was scrappy, Barnfield managed to move the ball away and Rovers moved the ball quickly to RAILTON on the other wing and he powered over for a try, the difficult conversion was missed. (15-7, 32 Mins). The Rover’s pack was causing Consett all sorts of problems winning good, quick ball and driving Consett back and it looked like the first half would be played out in the Consett half unfortunately a turn-over allowed Consett to clear up-field, Rovers should have cleared the ball into touch to end the half but they wanted to really press home their advantage, the ball was moved but a bad pass was knocked on. This unforced error allowed Consett one last chance to end the half and they took it, the Consett centre drove hard into the Rovers midfield and Rovers gave a penalty for the tackler not moving away. A kick to the corner gave Consett a platform 5 metres out and the ball was moved once again to the Consett stand-off PAULUS who again found a gap and went over for a try under the posts, which was duly converted by COOK. (15-14, 42 Mins).

Halftime Rovers 15 – Consett 14

Langley was replaced by O’Callaghan and Ross was replaced by Wood, as the second half kicked off the half-time talk appeared to do the business and Rovers started well, winning a penalty on 44 minutes which was kicked by FOREMAN (18-14, 44 Mins). Once again, the kick off proved an issue to Rovers and the ball was allowed to bounce to behind the try-line, Charters cleared the immediate danger but lacked support and Consett swooped and won a Penalty for holding on. Consett chose to take a scrum 10 Metres from the Rovers line, the Consett forward drove hard and go to inches of the Rovers try-line, this allowed the scrum half TROTT to squeeze over for the try, which was converted by COOK (18-21, 46 Mins). This score seemed to take the wind out of Rovers sails and they were trying to move the ball from poor positions on the field, instead of playing more pragmatic rugby and trying to get a grip back on the game. Once again, a turn-over in midfield by Consett allowed them to take a quick tap and go and moved the ball to the winger PRATCHCOTT who made a powerful burst which saw him evade 3 would be tacklers and run 50 metre to score in the corner, once again it was converted by COOK (18-28, 49 Mins). Armstrong was injured in the build up to the try and was replace by Burnside.

Railton M was replaced by Railton S on 53 minutes and he was immediately in the action when a clever kick though was chased hard by Consett, Railton tried to get to his supporting players but once again Consett won a penalty for holding on. Rover’s captain Barnfield was yellow carded for dissent and Consett elected for a scrum, from a steady scrum the reserve no. 8 KNOTT drove over for a try which was once again converted by COOK. (18-35, 55 Mins).

Consett were now in a winning position and repeatedly turned the Rovers defence with some astute kicking, this meant that Rovers were having to attack from deep in their own half and on 61 minutes they again gave a penalty for holding on. Consett once again took a scrum option and the ball was moved to the centre who had ran hard all game, he set up quick ruck ball and SODEN took a pop ball and drove over the line for the try, Cook missed a fairly routine conversion (18-40, 62 Mins). Rovers made a number of substitutions bringing on Ross C, King and Harrison in a final throw of the dice. The changes further disrupted Rovers as desperation set in and from a knock-on in midfield the Consett stand-off spotted the winger in acres of space and hit him with a precise Crossfield kick which PRATCHETT collected and had a clear 40 metre run to the line to score the try under the posts allowing for an easy kick for COOK to convert. (18-45, 69 Mins).

Rovers finally gave their support something to cheer about in a dismal 2nd half, when they drove at the Consett midfield and made ground from a grubber through the ball bounced free, Consett looked to have cleared the danger and look to move the ball, BARNFIELD found himself being gifted a pass and he scored to the right of the posts. The try was eventually awarded by Mr Williams and a drop goal attempt for the conversion was missed. (23-45, 73 Mins).

Consett would not allow Rovers to have the last hurrah and set off up field again, and with the clock into injury time they moved the ball to the right and found the replacement prop CURRAN in acres of space and he scored in the corner, Cook lined up the last kick of the game but he was unable to add the extra 2 points.

Fulltime Rovers 23 – Consett 50

MOM – Pinchen the veteran rolled back the years with an all-action display continually taking the ball forward and driving hard at the Consett defence for the full 80 Minutes.