Reports 2008-9

November 2nd 2008

Sunderland vs Durham City

1st Game
With the expected late cancellation of the match against Guisborough ,Durham City found themselves on their travels yet again this time to the far reaches of sunny Sunderland .The weather was particularly kind with no rain and only a slight wind.Davison won the toss and decided to kick .A good drop kick start by Draper found the opposition who were immediately thrown on the back foot by both Hart and Warby ,Renwick and Eddy rucked over the ball leaving Fletcher who picked up the ball at the rear of the ruck ,him and Davison drove the ball on.Maceneenie was left with good clean ball passing the ball threw quick hands to Draper to Cooper who broke three tackles to score in the corner.Sunderland kicked the ball straight down Warby'sthroat from the re-start who broke through two tackles a great off load from the tackle saw Draper run with the ball passing to Spence to Cooper to Monkman only to be tackled short of the line .Great support play from the forwards saw Hart ,who was having a cracking game, rip the ball from the opposition to pass to Fletcher who scored in the corner, Draper slotted over the conversion .From the re-start Renick ,who was generally making a nuisance of himself amonst the opposition forwards,picked the ball up off the ground and ran hard at the oppositon defence having three defenders to take him to the ground ,Davison and Fletcher were on hand to drive the maul forward with Eddy,Warby,and Hart in close support .The ability of the forwards to recycle the ball saw the ball being ran wide along the backs bringing in Pallister at full back who crashed into the defence a great off load saw Crozier get the oppotunity to open his legs and run at the oppostion,the forwards were quickly on hand and Hart broke with the ball to score a well worked try. Unfortunately Draper did not make the conversion -City were playing Champagne rugby and it was great to watch
The second half saw City make three changes Blakelock,Morgan and Conrad came on for Renwick,Eddy and Fletcher.The game quickly got restarted with Sunderland kicking to the City forwards.Davison caught the ball and ran straight at the opposition forwards great recycling by Conrad and Morgan saw the open rugby continue ,Maceneenie feeding Draper to Spence who was very dangerous taking in at least two or three defenders every time he was getting the ball .A string of poor tunovers meant that we were letting the opposition back into the game and they duly deserved their try and conversion. From the re-start the Durham forwards took the game by the scruff of the neck and some great inter passing between Conrad and Hart saw the forwards take the ball up field only for the defences to hold out. Continuous pressure by the City forwards was unable to be rewarded with no scores in the second half and the final whistle blown Durham City winning 17 -7.

Sunderland 7 Durham City 17

Tries Hart, Cooper, Warby

Conversion Draper 1

2nd Game
City kept the same team that finished the first game and Davison won the toss again and started the match with Draper kicking to the opposition . The Sunderland forwards were full of confidence after the previous game and put great pressure on the City forwards who found themselves camped on their own try line for a period of time. Draper relieved the pressure by kicking the ball out of touch, from the resulting opposition line out Hart stole the ball and ran half the length of the field to score in the corner and Warby duly converted the conversion. From the re-start the City forwards Renwick, Eddy and Warby combined well off-loading the ball to Maceneenie who span the ball out along the back line to Crozier who ran hard at the opposition. At the break down the City forwards were the quickest to get there and the ball was recycled well by Conrad and Morgan. Spence got the ball and ran hard at the opposition inside centre and at the break down the opposition knocked the ball on. The resulting scrum saw City make two changes and from the put in Maceneenie dummied the scrum half and the whole Sunderland back line to score his first try of the season. Warby kicked over the conversion. The second half it was all City and the forwards were very dominant, in particular Hart, Davison, Warby, Renwick and Conrad and only good defensive tackling by the opposition prevented more tries being scored. However, Fletcher did manage to break through the defence to score his second try of the match which Warby converted.

Sunderland 0 – Durham City 21

Tries - Hart, Maceneenie, Fletcher

Conversions – Warby 3

Strengths

Supporting play first half of first match - very good

Passing between both forwards and backs

Team defence

Tackling – much improved

Areas for Improvement

Rucking – need to get lower and not commit too many men to the ruck

Support play – not having your own team player being isolated

I would like to thank all of the parents and boys attending on Sunday, both games were very good and played in very good spirit and with great enthusiasm. Well done!

I think we deserved the victory, this is a result of the hard work which has been put in the training session.

Durham City u12’s versus Blaydon 4th of october
Blaydon 21 v Durham City 19

It was a really warm sunny morning on the Swallwell Riviera as Durham city faced county runners up Blaydon .Blaydon won the toss and opted to kick whilst Durham’s captain Davison decided to play into the wind
The Blaydon kick was well taken by Elliott who immediately ran at the opposition, Elliott set up a ruck and the opposition were cleaned out by Davison, Hart and Warby, Maceneenie quickly got the ball out to Draper to Spence who immediately had the Blaydon back line on the back foot. Some great defending by Blaydon stopped Spence from scoring the first try the ensuing ruck gave turn over to Blaydon who promptly took advantage of the wind and sent the ball into the Durham half. Elliott, Pallister and Fulton linked well in defence and set the ball up for Brown [first game] and Eddy who laid the ball back for Fletcher who drove hard into the Blaydon no 8 some great rucking and some good pick and go by the city no8 Hart saw City well on top. The half back pairing of Maceneenie and Draper looked menacing and the three quarters of Fulton and Spence very elusive with Monkman and Pallister looking dangerous with the ball in hand. Some great rucking by the Durham forwards saw the ball being sent out wide by the back line for Spence to open the scoring with a fine try in the corner , Warby unfortunately missed the conversion, Pallister had to leave the field injured to be replaced by Crozier [first game] .From the restart Blaydon were determined to do better and a probing kick from the Blaydon fly half found the Durham three quarters half a sleep for the simplest of try’s a simple conversion meant Blaydon were 7-5 up after 12mins.Durham restarted with Draper kicking the ball into the opposition half some good handling from Blaydon saw them penetrating the City line again and some poor tackling for the first time in the game saw Blaydon in the lead at half time 14-5.
The second half started as the first one had finished with Blaydon putting pressure on the Durham defence another probing kick from the Blaydon fly half over the advancing back line saw another try in the corner and Blaydon lead 21-5.Durham made some changes with Blackelock coming on for Warby, Morgan for Fletcher ,Turnbull-Adams for Fulton. Blaydon kept putting the pressure on and became camped in the Durham half .Some good phases of play by the Durham forwards gave Elliott the chance to break down the Blind side only to be tackled 20yards short of the line, quickly Hart, Davison and Brown were there at the breakdown followed by Eddy, Blackelock and Morgan ,Maceneenie gave quick ball to Draper who passed to Spence who beat one player and ran through another to score a spectacular try in the corner .Draper slotted over the conversion and City were back in the game 21-12 with 5 mins on the clock. Davison left the field injured to be replaced by Warby

From the restart Warby took the ball and ran at the opposition, some great recycling of the ball and city were back on the attack. Blaydon managed to turn over the ball from a ruck and kicked the ball up field .Their forwards put the City defence under great pressure .Hart robbed the ball off the opposition and the forwards recycled the ball back to Maceneenie who passed to Draper to Turnbull –Adams to Elliott who beat two players to run half the length of the pitch to score and Draper kicked the conversion 21-19 was the final score.
Coaches notes
Great team performance by all 17 players .we have to work on positional play in defence for the back 3[full back and two wings].Falcon in and falcon out.Ball retention at the contact situation .three quarter line must pass the ball out to the wings or full back
A big thank you to all the parents for getting the boys to the match and to Ted who was very helpful in his first match assisting me today
Blaydon 21 Durham City 19
Spence 2 tries
Elliott 1 try
Draper 2 Conversions

Listed below are our statistics for the season so far and all players should be commended for them for they are good reading. Good luck for the rest of the season.

Durham City Rugby Matches 2008/2009 - Results