Blaydon entertained Sunderland today on a fine but windy morning and the pitch was in good condition despite the recent poor weather. This was a County Plate game.

Anyway onto the game!

Blaydon won the toss and elected to play with the wind at their backs in the 1st half. As usual both sides appeared evenly matched in all positions and the breakdown areas were keenly contested, it was a real battle in the forwards. This became the main area of concern for both sides as penalties were conceded which saw the game stutter in spells. Sunderland made a number of breaks into Blaydon’s 22m area but Blaydon seemed to be pushing the play into Sunderland’s half and probably shaded the position statistics for the 1st half with the possession being pretty even. In past matches Sunderland were prone to conceding tries by the backs allowing the wingers to pass them round the outside. This was where Blaydon began their attacks and would have scored had it not have been for some great covering tackles by the backs but two in particular by Adam Ashman who was everywhere! Once Sunderland stopped panicking they played some great rugby and breaks by Marc Edmundson, Cam Grimwood and James Gibson lifted Sunderland’s spirits.

It was a good 20 minutes before the deadlock was finally broken, Chrissy Little took a deft inside pass from Marc Edmundson from half way and broke the defensive line of Blaydon’s backs. He made good yards up the pitch before being snagged by tacklers, Marc was on hand to take Chris’ offload pass, Marc made a few more yards then offloaded to Harry Connell around Blaydon’s 22m line. Harry surged on and was tackled just short of the line but was able to stretch out and score to see Sunderland take the lead (0-5).

The following 10 minutes saw Blaydon put Sunderland under immense pressure pinning them on their line on several occasions desperate to level the score. This pressure lead Sunderland into the possibility of a sin binning because the penalties were being conceded so frequently the refs arm was beginning to lose blood, it was up so often! Peter and Graeme were frantically looking at their watches by now!

Sunderland held out under this pressure and slowly worked their way up the pitch with strong work by all players, the forwards bashing and securing possession and the backs moving the ball well in the hands. Sunderland secured a penalty near Blaydon’s 22m and Harry Gill bashed through a couple of tacklers, placed the ball back and quick thinking from Adam Ashman saw him pick up, shrug off a couple of weak tackles and score under the posts right on the stroke of half time. Conversion by Connell (0-12)

Sunderland now had the wind at their backs and the directive from the coaches was to play the game in Blaydon’s half, use the strong wind to their advantage and bring the full back, Mason McGregor into the game as much as possible. This went out of the window because Blaydon had turned up to play and from the kick off pushed Sunderland deep into their 22m area. Cam Grimwood was sin binned by the ref but again Sunderland’s defence was resolute and they repelled Blaydon’s attacks with a couple of long kicks which were well followed up. 14 man Sunderland cut Blaydon down the middle with Chrissy Little, now in the centres, sprinting through and making excellent runs off Marc’s passes. Sunderland now found themselves with a penalty right in front of Blaydon’s posts. An easy 3 points for Connell. (0-15)

The game was beginning to take its toll on some of the Blaydon players and a they were forced to make changes in forwards and backs because of injuries. Sunderland too brought on some subs throughout this half to try to give as many lads a game as possible. With Grimwood back on, the half seemed to be dominated by Sunderland who were using the tail wind to their advantage, on one occasion Cam Grimwood crossed the line under the posts but was held up. Hell bent on scoring on this visit to Blaydon’s 22m area, Sunderland secured the scrum and Mason burst through Blaydon’s backs from a slick pass from Marc to score his first try (0-20). Although their heads were down, Blaydon certainly didn’t crumble and made surging breaks of their own but Sunderland’s tackling was strong and held them out a few more times to see out the game with the final score of Blaydon 0 – Sunderland 20.

Man of the match forwards: awarded to Greig Simms for some outstanding strong runs in support play and for the backs: Harry Connell whos attitude and maturity shone through.

Thanks to Blaydon for an entertaining and well contested match. Well done to all players, even those who didn’t get on. Your turn next time!

Match report by Rob Lloyd.