U16s Confident Win against Durham City

Sunderland faced the challenge of Durham City at Ashbrooke today and were honoured to play on the first team pitch. From the kick off Sunderland pressured Durham and were rewarded with 2 early tries by Jamie Sword and Harry Connell who converted one and hit the post with the other. Will Nicholson was seeing plenty of the ball on the left wing and had some great runs to add yet more pressure to Durham. A great tackle and strip by Marc Edmundson earned a scrum on Sunderland's 10 metre and from this Marc dummied the defence to break through, he stepped the fullback to score under the posts. Conversion by Harry Connell to see Sunderland 19-0. The next 10 mins were a little broken and scrappy with Sunderland conceding penalties but another great strip by Marc in the tackle see the backs pour on into Durhams 22 metre, from the phases, Marc again dummies and goes over to score again. Conversion by Harry Connell. 26-0. Sunderland continued to heap on misery for Durham with Elliott Nelson catching the scrum half at the base of the scrum and the ball being spread wide to the backs only for Micheal O'Hara to be caught just short of the line. Good recycling by the forwards saw Harry Connell pick up and dummy the defence to score and convert. 33-0. from the kick off Sunderland leaked too many penalties and left the door open for Durham to score a try just before half time. 33-5
The second half saw Durham pressure Sunderland over a number of phases and almost score but for an amazing wrap-up tackle by Marc Edmundson. Durham continued piling on the pressure but were unable to score. After a spell camped on their try line, Sunderland eventually got their hands on the ball and Zach Spoors rounded the defence to score a superb long range try. Conversion by Harry Connell. Yet more penalties conceded by Sunderland allowed Durham to take quick taps and earn themselves a try in the corner. Sunderland weren't finished and pinned Durham back into their 22, from a stray pass by Durham, Chrissy Little got himself on the score sheet under the posts. Conversion by Harry Connell. 47-10. Yet more misery for Durham from the kick-off as Marc Edmundson jinked his way through the heart of Durhams defence and great support play by Elliott Nelson saw him take a pass from Marc to score once more. Conversion by Harry Connell.54-10 Durham never let their heads go down and earned themselves another score which they converted. 54-17. With only minutes of the match left Harry Connell was sin-binned for repeated off-side forcing Sunderland to reorganise the 14 man team. Marc moved to scrum half and made an instant impact by nicking the Durham ball from the scrum half, feeding it to Elliott Nelson to make the final score under the posts. Conversion by Edmundson. Final score 61-17

Many thanks to the lads who played for the opposition and making the game competitive.
Match Report by Rob Lloyd.