South Shields 31, Newton Aycliffe 11
Newton Aycliffe’s incredible unbeaten league run came to an at South Shields on Saturday.
What was novel or intriguing about this game was the pitch, not many of the Aycliffe side had ever played a game of rugby on artificial grass the new 3G type pitch.
The players and coaches were looking forward to the experience and the general consensus of opinion was the surface would suit the Aycliffe speedy backs.
A large group of Aycliffe supporters travelled to watch the game and their backing for the players was tremendous.
This game was always going to be a tricky one for the league leaders after beating their hosts at home earlier in the season 55-0 South Shields were desperate to get their own back on their close rivals.
The match kicked off on a near perfect surface, in bright sun light and little or no wind to have any effect.
NARUFC drew first bloody after an infringement at the ruck and Luke Tinkler stepped up and slotted the penalty home from 30 plus metres.
Shields roared back with some aggressive play in and around the tackle area which resulted in one of their big forwards crashing over the line to score after breaking through several tackles. The conversion was kicked to give them a 7-3 lead much to the excitement to the home team.
Luke Tinkler again kicked another penalty to get Aycliffe back to 7-6.
The game ebbed and flowed, neither side totally dominating every aspect of the game in the early stages.
The referee took a dislike to John Whitehouse (back row player and Club Chairman) play at the tackle area which resulted in several penalties against him leading eventually to a ten minute sin binning. Shields kicked two penalties to lead13 -6.
Aycliffe’s backs were desperate to run the ball but on many many occasions the unbelievable fast defensive South Shields line thwarted them.
But eventually after securing great ball at the line out the backs attacked with speed and great skill Dom Ridley making the decisive break linked with Luke Crossen who crossed the line taking the defender with him and eventually fought the ball to the ground for a great try.
Half time score: 13–11 in favour of South Shields
The second half saw shields dominate the scrummage and the break down area of the game their big forwards enjoying good ball to run at the visitors who manfully tackled and tackled the waves of attacks.
John Whitehouse and Matty Wiper continuous tackling was a pleasure to watch.
Mark Affleck put in a great shift propping against lads three four or even five stone heavier than him. The amount of tackling being made against the aggressive strong runners from Shields began to take its toll. Several injuries saw the Aycliffe bench all on the field within quarter of an hour into the second half.
Aycliffe’s defence began to breakdown and three tries were scored a total 19 unanswered points seeing the score reach 32 -11.
The attitude of the Aycliffe players was excellent and their total commitment could only be praised.
Andrew Littlefair, Aycliffe’s inspirational captain was hit by one of the hardest but fair tackles many seasoned campaigners had ever seen. Andrew battled on for a further 15 minutes with what appeared to be a whiplash injury but despite not wanting to leave his players was forced to come off leaving his team with only 14 players to finish the last ten minutes.
The jubilation from the home team and supporters was only match by the total disappointment of the visitors.
Final score: 32-11
South Shields certainly deserved their victory no taking anything away from their excellent performance and we wish them well for the rest of the season.
Aycliffe still have eight tricky games to play before the season ends. They still remain top of the table and with the return of eight or nine players in the coming weeks the squad will be strong enough to see the season out.
Aycliffe are away to Chester-le-Street this Saturday.