New Players make Debuts against strong Acklam side

With many regular faces unavailable for the fixture against Acklam, Sunderland looked to 2 new players to step up and play their first game for the club against a very big and strong Acklam side.
With many players playing out of position or trying out new ones we kicked off. Within the first couple of minutes, debutant Daniel Barker's quick reactions saw him catch a ball spilled from the fumbling hands of an Acklam player. He quickly shipped the ball out to James Savage, who broke away from the Acklam defence to score the opening try. Unfortunately this was to be the only try of the game for Sunderland. Acklam heavily relied on their bigger players and quickly identified some of Sunderland's smaller players to target. Even though the final score shows a bit of a mauling, the reality was different. Sunderland's defence on the day was one of the best of the season and at times kept Acklam at bay for 5 or 6 attacks, holding the ball up on 3 occasions.

Man of the match goes to Owen Charlton for a fantastic display at scrum half.