Third XV Away to South Shields

Sunderland squad overpowered by shields squad.

After a number of cry offs leaving us with sixteen players to face a twenty six man squad we clearly had a mountain to climb!

Shields started strong with a converted try from a five metre scrum within ten minutes.

The next thirty minutes saw both teams testing each others defence massively with the half ending 7 - 0.

Two early shields tries and a sin bin for prop Ryan Gibson (for an enthusiastic tackle) saw us chasing the game in the second half.

Our only try came from jossy with another one of his trademark quick tap penalties sixty five minutes in.

Shields then lost a man to the bin for repeat offences and the last action of the game saw them run in a final try from a well drilled backline.

Final score 22 - 5

Our backline was weaker than usual with only one of the backs playing today from last week, thanks to the forwards for filling in the gaps!

We showed great commitment all over the park.
Our defence was first class.
I couldn't fault everyone's efforts, its not easy playing against a large squad with rolling subs.

Man of the match was an easy decision to make - Sam marshall wins it with well over twenty tackles, some great carries and also playing out of position. Outstanding!!!

Keep up the hard work boys.