Good Bishop Performance for Bishop U13s

 

Novocastrians U13s 29 Bishop Auckland U13s 10

Bishop Auckland Under 13s made the trip to Newcastle for their first game on a full-sized pitch. Bishop began well and good work from the forwards saw them have the majority of the territory. Alex Bielby was a constant threat intelligently mixing up his kicking, running and passing options. Hooker Josh Leonard, on his debut, made sure that the visitors took the majority of the scrummage ball and Anth Young was dominant in the line-out. Novos then broke out of defence and took the lead, against the run of play, with a try. A period of Novos pressure finally saw a miscued defensive kick give them a second score. It looked certain that Lloyd Purser would reduce the gap when he broke free in midfield but an excellent tackle from the winger stopped the move. A fine break from Anth Young also came close to a score made.

The rucking from Sunny Maan, Chris Coates, and Curtis Hall was powerful and scrum-half Sam McIvor tidied up the loose ball well at the back. Leon Berriman in the new position of flanker covered a large amount of ground tackling the Novos backs. At half-time the score was 12 – 0.

Bishop were unlucky to concede a try at the beginning of the second half but then again forced their way back into the Novos half but could not score. Two quick tries from Novos seemed to have broken Bishop’s spirit but they fought back with both Toby and Ben Oliver making tackles and Lloyd Purser showing great strength to steal the ball a number of times. After winning a scrum close to halfway number 8, Ben Hoggart, who was a threat all game, picked up the ball and gained 15 metres; when he was stopped 25 metres out, Sam McIvor was on hand to take the ball and run in the try. Straight from the kick-off Lloyd Purser caught the ball and ran through a number of defenders to score another try with the last play of the game. The final score was 29 – 10 to Novos.

This was an excellent performance by Bishop in their first game and they were unlucky to lose what was an evenly fought game. They can now look forward with confidence to the visit of Darlington Mowden Park on Sunday.

A Bridge to Far for Bishop 2nds

Lost 23 - 5

Bishop Auckland 2XV visited Sunderland III on a high but this was not going to be an easy match, Sunderland were primarily a set of old heads that had been around the block a few times and who definitely knew the tricks of the trade.

The match started again in a blistering heat wave and on face value Bishop looked evenly matched against a Sunderland side however, a soon lost ball from a scrappy line out in Bishops 22 was quickly recycled out and down the Sunderland line for an easy try. Bishop got straight back into Sunderland but were held for 25minutes in their own 22 and displayed some impressive defending before young Zac Hole and Sean Ellison worked their magic and stole the ball from the Sunderland backs. From here Michael Beech, took the ball from his own 22 and ran the full length of the pitch like a bullet being propelled from a colt 45, now the scores were even at 5-5. This was Sunderland's first taste of what the backs were capable of and it clearly shook them as for the rest of the half the ball stayed in the pack were they were made to work hard by Bishop before they scored a try right on half time.

The second half started as the first ended and Bishop were back in there own 22 defending the line. Although the game was hard and made worse by the heat, Bishop kept their form and managed to give the backs more ball were young Sean Ellison gave the old boys of Sunderland some lessons in tackling with the ball. Even with these impressive displays it was not going to be Bishops day. Sunderland used their knowledge and disrupted Bishop who gave away 3 penalties and Sunderland increased their lead to 23 points.

Gary Hamilton came on with 20minutes to play and injected some fire into the game and quickly started chomping on the heels of the Sunderland scrum half, having said that, the sly kisses Gary was giving him soon got him wound up and it was,nt long before they were exchanging handbags!!.Now the tables of power were starting to shift and the ball was being spun out from the line outs like a dart from the great arm of the darting legend Eric Bristow. The backs were being brought into the game but it was a bridge to far for Bishop as Sunderland defended their position very well and kept Bishop at bay were the game ended at 23 – 5.

The match was played in great spirit and although Bishop had been beaten, they have come away knowing that there won’t be many matches as hard as this one was. On another day this could have a been a win for Bishop, indeed the return match will no doubt have a different outcome and a one worth making an appointment with. The Bishop boys did everything right on the day and the only difference being was that Sunderland were a more established side with a vast amount of experience.

Forwards man of the match was given to Michael Beech and backs man of the match to Sean Ellison.

U14s Vs Chester Le Street 20/09/09

Score 46 : 15
The tone was set for the match during the early exchanges, with Bishops forward pack(Nathaniel Walton,Kyle Bradford, James Scrivener, Matthew Dockray, Luke Handley ,Liam Stephens, Leon Keirl, CallumHowe) being dominant. A 5m scrum was followed by a back move with Chris Chapman crashing over for a try. From a line out, which Bishops forwards won, a back move involving Nathan Waterhouse, Josh(JJ) Dewhurst ended with a try by Rhys Jary in the corner. Aggressive rucking by the forwards set up another break, this time by Howe and his pass set Dewhurst clear for a fine try.

Even though the score was 15 – 0, Chester Le Street were showing real spirit and strong tackling. However their line was breached again by a fine move involving forwards and backs (Kieran Fish, JJ, Chapman ,Luke Thompson, Jary , Waterhouse and Daniel Woods) with Woods scoring under the posts. Before half time Thompson showed fine pace, to score an individual try. Bradford stepping forward to take the conversions.

Chester Le Street started the 2nd half with strong forward and back play, and scored a good try in the corner. Bishops with a changed back line (Finn Daverson , Bradley Gates, Stephan Walker, Serena Handley, Joe Edmonds) responded quickly with Keirl scoring from a driving maul. Chester's had come out much stronger in the 2nd half, yet were punished by another solo try by Walton. Chester le Street scored two more try’s until another fine back line move led to Thompson scoring.

A fine display by BARUFC under 14s

Final Score : 46 : 15