Hartlepool Rovers travelled to a bitterly cold Redcar on Saturday for this league encounter. Despite the icy surface, the pitch was playable, and Rovers started brightly, taking the game to the hosts.
However, after 15 minutes, Redcar struck first. Their powerful centre burst through a gap in the Rovers defence and finished superbly from 30 metres out. The conversion was successful, giving Redcar a 7–0 lead.

Rovers worked hard but struggled to gain a foothold, hampered by poor kicking and penalties that allowed Redcar to camp inside the 22. A clever switch of play created an overlap for the home side, and they executed it perfectly to score their second try. The conversion was missed, leaving the score at 12–0.

Finally, Rovers sparked into life and upped the tempo. Strong carries from Gunn and Harrison made valuable metres before Fawcett found the supporting Charters. He drew his man and popped the ball to Trimble, who crossed untouched in the corner. Fawcett nailed the difficult conversion to make it 12–7.

Momentum swung Rovers’ way, and a lovely kick from Fawcett was chased down by Harrison. He linked with Trimble, who was tackled agonisingly short of the line. The offload to Smith didn’t stick, and the chance went begging.

Rovers were rewarded soon after when Charters powered over from 15 metres following a quick tap penalty. Fawcett added the extras, and Rovers led 12–14 at half-time.

The second half was evenly contested. Rovers had a slight edge in the scrum, while Redcar enjoyed the line-out. There were flashes of promise from Rovers: Dring sniped through the middle of a ruck, supported by Smith and Clayton, but the break came to nothing. Smith later broke the line again but couldn’t find Ward with the pass.
Fawcett extended the lead with a penalty, making it 12–17. Chances were scarce as the difficult conditions affected both sides.

With just a minute remaining, Redcar scored after sustained pressure. The conversion was missed, leaving the score tied at 17–17. Redcar ran down the clock and cleared to end the game.

This was a frustrating afternoon for Rovers. Despite plenty of effort and endeavour, they never truly clicked, with mistakes and poor decision-making proving costly. When they did string phases together, they looked dangerous and scored two good tries. More consistency will be needed in the coming weeks.

Credit to Redcar, who battled hard and played some good rugby. Their performance belied their league position, and they were worthy of the draw.