Deserved but close win v Westoe 2s

Hello from the 2's match report.

We arrived at Westoe with a degree of trepidation.

Firstly, with the exception of Deano, who has propped since goodness know when, we had a very inexperienced front row.

We had considered requesting the game have uncontested scrums from the start but decided to give it a go.

Secondly it's been quite some time since a Sunderland 2s team played a Westoe 2s team.

Westoe 2s ply their trade in the C.A.N.D.Y league which is much more competitive than the Aln League that Sunderland 2s currently play in.

My view is the C.A.N.D.Y League is where our 2s need to be but we'll see how this season pans out.

Anyway, the 1st half saw us play some great expansive rugby to rack up a 22-0 half time lead.

However, there were signs towards the end of the 1st half that Westoe were increasingly beginning to take advantage of the scrum.

This became much more obvious in the 2nd half as Westoe came back tremendously to bring the score to 22-20.

From the sidelines I thought it was game over however we put in an excellent last 15 minutes of graft to hold out and deservedly win.

Highlights:

Front row: it would have been easier to ask for an uncontested game but we didn't and our front row put in a hard 80 minute shift against a Westoe team that seemed to change props every ten minutes. Thank you Deano, Harry and Jonny Parker especially,

Back row: Extremely impressed here, high quality stuff (Andy Black, Chris and Scully) that didn't lose much effectiveness either when subs Shaun Marshall and Ross Finch came on.

Colts: Made up 7 of the starting XV, good stuff.

General effort: much appreciated, well done everyone.

Got to take the rough with the smooth with Mr Harry Connell but ball in hand on the attack he looks good.

An aggressive Mr Aaron Stephenson, thank you and welcome back.

Lowlights:

It would be harsh to highlight anyone specifically here but it would be fair to say the first 30 minutes of the second half was all Westoe and we couldn't work out how to stop them.

Tries: Connell, Little, Padget, Brace.

Conversions: McNay (2)

MoM: Scully and Black stood out but Jonny Parker got the edge. 2nd game ever at hooker, always under pressure, fab in the loose.