It was an exceptionally windy morning at Hill View that saw Billingham RFC visiting to take on Sunderland RFC Under 13s. The pre-match warm up involved the backs working on simple passing drills to find their range under the conditions, and the forwards practicing a tight game plan.

With a few players missing, including both of our regular fly-halves, Dillon Skea moved from his usual berth in the centres to cover at 10, and James Graham moved from his usual spot at No.8, taking up the vacant position at inside centre (12).

Starting line-up for the first half: Prop: Louis Irwin, Hooker: Ben Barnes, Prop: Louis Jones, Second Row: Matt Neville, Second Row: Shaun Donkin-Nunn, Blindside Flanker: Cameron Holder, Openside Flanker: James Savage, No.8 Owen Tyson. Scrum-Half: Luke Gallagher, Fly-Half: Dillon Skea, Inside Centre: James Graham, Outside Centre: Kristian Steabler, Winger Ben McCann, Winger: Marcus Taylor, Full-Back: Max Houlden.

Sunderland had a strong start, regaining possession well and putting Billingham straight on the back foot. Sunderland scored first for only the second time this season, and found themselves in the lead for only the third. Without the reliable James Graham in the pack, and a strong Billingham pack to contend with, the Sunderland forwards managed to assert their dominance all the same. They recycled possession from a number of breakdowns, sticking the game-plan, and keeping the game narrow and tight. They took contact and drew in defenders until scrum-half Luke Gallagher whipped the ball out from the base of the ruck to fly-half Dillon Skea. Dillon popped a short pass to James Graham who ran at the Billingham back line for the first time. It took three defenders to slow him down, and he kept his composure to offload the ball from the tackle to the supporting run of Kristian Steabler. He took the ball well and ran straight through the holes left in the defence by James for his first try of the day, scored under the posts. Max Houlden volunteered for kicking duties and successfully converted the first try of the morning.

Sunderland kept the pressure up and kept the play in the Billingham half. Recent weeks have seen James Savage and James Graham combining well, in both attack and defence, playing at 7 and 8 respectively. Any fears that moving Graham to 12 could have threatened to break that partnership up a little were allayed early in the first half, when Savage picked the ball up from the back of the ruck, sticking to the game plan in the blustery conditions, he ran a short line from the ruck to take contact in the middle of the field, crashing into the opponent fly-half and driving him back over the gain-line. Savage popped the ball up to Graham, who ran through for his first try of the day.

An excellent lineout move which Sunderland had been working on just before the game worked to great effect resulting in breaks made by Owen Tyson and James Savage, both making at least 15-20 yards with their carries from the lineout. After one of these breaks had resulted in a tackle and a quick ruck Luke Gallagher passed the ball out from the Scrum-Half position to Dillon Skea in at Fly-Half and with the defence on the back foot from the earlier break, Dillon made a break of his own, cutting left and right through the scattered field of Billingham defenders and over the line for a his third try of the season, slightly wide of the sticks. Marcus Taylor stepped up to convert this one successfully.

From the restart Dillon found himself almost through again, working hard to break a number of tackles and find the gaps in the defence. Kristian used his pace to keep up with the run of Dillon and capitalised on the situation with his second try of the half.

The defensive work by Sunderland was excellent during this half of the match, the defensive partnership of Savage and Graham still working well, despite being in different positions. Savage was still out quick from every scrum and breakdown to pressure the Scrum and Fly-half, while the centres now had Graham in front of them already rather than having to break with Savage to come looking for them. Excellent tackling from Kristian, Max Houlden and wingers Ben McCann and Marcus Taylor also left little opportunity for the Billingham side, and the half ended 24-5 to Sunderland.

Half-time substitutions saw Luke Gallagher leave the field to make way for Owen Charlton at Scrum-Half, Josh Teal entered the match as a prop with Louis Jones leaving the field. After a brief wait for his gum-shield to arrive Jay Henson also came on at Second Row with Matt Neville substituted.

Billingham started brighter and stronger in the second half, and scored the first try of the half not long after the restart. After a long period of to-ing and fro-ing and a very competitive forward match-up the Sunderland side managed to re-assert themselves. The quick hooking of Ben Barnes won a scrum for Sunderland and the ball was quickly passed out well through the hands of Owen Charlton and Dillon Skea to James Graham waiting in the midfield for another chance to torment the Billingham back line. This time there was no stopping him, Kristian ran an excellent supporting line again, showing that this partnership has promise, but he wasn’t needed on this occasion and James Graham crashed over the line for his second try.

Ben McCann, improving with every game he plays, left the field to be replaced by Jack Henderson. Shaun Donkin-Nunn came off to give Harry Patterson the final 15 minutes of the game, after a lengthy spell side-lined by injury.

Sunderland found themselves down to 14 men when Captain Cameron Holder was sent to the sin-bin for failing to heed the warnings of the referee and continuing to go off his feet in rucks, killing the ball and blocking Billingham’s access to it. A couple of quick tries during this period by Billingham made the score level at 29-29 after an excellent rallying display from them. Another converted try put them in the lead for the first time in the match with 5 minutes left. Having been searching for another win for so long Sunderland were determined not to let this one slip through their fingers and produced a passage of excellent rugby building to the final minute.

With a number of quick rucks won, and hard yards earned with each phase, Sunderland advanced up the field. A penalty was given to Sunderland for a Billingham infringement at the ruck. Quick thinking saw James Graham tap and go, straight into the tackle of a Billingham defender who had failed to retreat the necessary 10 yards from the penalty mark. Another penalty awarded ten yards further forward saw the opportunity to kick for the corner and set up an attacking lineout. James kicked for touch, and found it perfectly for a 5-metre Sunderland lineout. Owen Tyson dropped into the centres and James Graham took up a more familiar position in the lineout hoping for the catch and drive over the line for the try which, if converted, would have made the game level in the final seconds. Putting 3 men into the Sunderland lineout Sunderland found themselves up against a Billingham line of 4. Which if not rectified would result in another penalty in Sunderland’s favour, this time 5 yards from the line. Sunderland took the lineout throw, and the extra numbers illegally placed by Billingham helped them defend the lineout. The next passage of play, which Sunderland assumed was advantage for the lineout infringement continued until it was apparent that advantage was not being played. Unfortunately the numbers had not been spotted by the referee. As a now infamous sign at Kidderminster rugby put it, “These are kids. This is a game. The coaches are volunteers. The referees are human. This is not the 6 nations.”

This possession saw Billingham pass the ball wide into space and break for their own try-line for a score under the posts, a conversion and a further to 7 points to finish the game 14 ahead, with a final score of 29-43 in favour of Billingham.

This final play coupled with being agonisingly close to only our second victory of the season saw emotions getting the better of Sunderland RFC supporters, who may have subject our referee to an unnecessary amount of stick, they’re usually a very nice bunch of supporters, and we have apologised for any offence caused. Referees are volunteers too, and give up their time so that we can have enjoyable games of rugby for our players. It’s the hardest job and the most thankless task in the whole sporting set up. Players, coaches and supporters have it easy by comparison.

After dominating rucks and line-outs, putting in countless strong tackles around the fringes of the breakdowns and carrying well on the crash-balls, Louis Irwin was given man of the match from the forwards. An excellent and aggressive display from him embodied the spirit of the team.

Dillon Skea was awarded man of the match for his accomplished display at fly-half, which he filled in at short notice and took to the role brilliantly.

A very good performance, and with the victory in our grasp for most of the game we will continue to work hard, see games out, and find that winning form soon.