Newsletter 23rd October 2009

2nd Team were presented with strips this weeekend
Back Rows

Ian Snowball, Mark Gilmore, Mark Fairly Andrew Cassidy, Zak Hole, Andrew Richardson, Patrick Humpert, Steven Middlemas, Kris Poskett ,Steve Archebald, Mathew Barnish, Micheal Beach Kevin Watson (Sponsor)

Front Row

David Gibson, Peter Sayers, Max Wood, Mark Nicholson,Lavin Clemment Gary Hamilton, Andrew Quin, Glen Ramshaw.

Bishop 2nds Back on Form

Bishop Auckland II 10: Mowden Park III 10

Bishop Auckland hosted Mowden Park on this frisky autumn afternoon and with yet again another large number of spectators in fact, if you closed your eyes you would have thought you were in a packed Mediterranean fruit and veg market and you know, I would have sworn blind that some asked me “could you sell me those apples please”!.

Bishop have thrown away the 2nd team rule book and are writing a new one with expectations that can only be imagined and now creating a force to be reckoned with. Its spectators are also growing in numbers and are now booking Saturday afternoon’s for the 2nd team home games.

Howden came here to Bishop with an expectation that they would be going home with a victory under their belts, however, the Bishop boys had this time got themselves into the right mind set and started the game with controlled aggression and professionalism that made Mowden tighten their belts.

Bishop for this game had A Rispin in at hooker and A Richardson at second row and from early on dominated the scrum and for the first time in many a year was now winning consistent ball. Mowden, being the drilled side that we all expect them to be, dug their heels in and knew their only chance was to get the ball out to their backs. Unfortunately, young Z Hole and A Cassidy slammed the door shut on the Howden backs and indeed, throughout the game put in some awesome tackling and are clearly a double act that have clicked into place.

Mowden, from a missed tackle, struck the first blow to win an unconverted try. Bishop keeping to the same game plan and using their strength in the pack won ball from a Mowden scrum and held the possession to give G Hamilton those critical seconds to assess the field play and feed the ball out to the backs were D Gibson started the onslaught. Following the ball, it landed in the hands of Z Hole and it was now two on two with Mowden who were no match for Bishops speed and flair. M Fairly received the ball from Z Hole and scored a try near the posts making the conversion easy and now Bishop were now 7 points to 5 up on Mowden. The pressure was now on Mowden who were clearly on the back foot and due to some lost composure gave away a penalty in a difficult position. An on form Z Hole on this day could have sold milk to a milkman and put the ball straight through the middle of the posts and bishop were 10 points to 5 at half time.

The second half started with the same passion and Bishop having a full compliment of substitutions combined with last weeks experience chose to make them wisely. Mowden managed to regain their composure but only to keep their defence in working order as Bishop maintained the pressure. Bishop in the last quarter won another scrum on Mowden’s 22 and chose to go blind with the ball however, the ball was lost and kick saw the ball back in Bishops 22 and with the only phase of sustained pressure from Mowden’s game they managed to score a try that in the end was not converted. The game ended 10 points to 10

This was clearly Bishops best game so far and with this team making history for the club the only part of their game that they need to find is when to actually turn on what they are capable of producing.

Submitted by Ian Snowball (Executive Editor) on 23 Oct 09

Bishop Referee Made Ambassador for Sport

Sophie Brown, the young woman who sometimes referees the mini-matches, has become Ambassador of Sport for Wear Valley and Teesdale District. She was awarded this prestigious role at York Races on the 22nd of September 2009.

Sophie is a remarkable young woman: her CV includes, county javelin thrower, qualified table tennis officiator, and one of the youngest ever female rugby union referees in the county. All this, and she is still in year 11 at King James Comprehensive!

Her favorite sport is rugby, about which she says, "I love the whole thing to do with rugby, everything that goes with it, from the taking part to the spectating I think its just a cut above all other sports". She got hooked on rugby during the 2003 world cup with the help of Johnny Wilkinson. Many of her family are connected to rugby: her father, Alam Brown, played rugby with Peter Gallone, her uncle,, Phill Ross, is a referee for the county, and her cousin, Micheal Ross, plays for Bishop Auckland Rugby Club 1st team. So you could say it is “in the blood.

For the future she is hoping to start a campaign to promote the values of sport: these seven values being excellence, respect, friendship, courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

For the future I wish her every success, she certainly deserves it.


Submitted by Nicola Gallone & Sally Evans on 16 Oct 09

Under 13s Battle to no Avail

Gateshead U13 29 Bishop Auckland U13 21

Bishop Auckland Under 13s travelled to Gateshead with hopes of a win on a sunny Sunday morning. Straight from the kick-off, the Bishop scrummage looked powerful, Josh Leonard taking a number of strikes against the head and Leon Berriman and Sam McIvor marauding in the back row. Sean Pinel and Alex Bielby saw that Aiden Mounsey, on his debut was able to make a number of runs, and Owen Booth, also making his debut showed his pace on the wing. Against the run of play, Gateshead took the lead with a powerful break from defence for a converted try. The strong running of the third newcomer, James Perry, saw the scores tied with Bielby adding the conversion. At half time the score was 7 - 7.

In the second half, Gateshead began to get slightly on top as the Bishop forwards tired and they took the lead before Perry's converted try brought the score back to 17 - 14. Ben Hoggart, Sunny Maan, and Anth Young all made powerful runs, and Ben and Toby Oliver made good tackles, but with the team now down to 13 players, Gateshead scored another try. Bishop's heads dropped, but only briefly and they fought back with Perry scoring his third try and Bielby his third kick to bring the score back to 22- 21. With time up, the referee allowed one more play but unfortunately for Bishop, Gateshead won a scrum and scored to make it 29 - 21 at the end of play.

Bishop again showed an improvement and played well despite having a number of players unavailable. On Sunday 25th October they play host to Blyth at 11am.

Submitted by Stuart McIvor on 20 Oct 09

Under ll's 7 v 21 Sunderland Under ll's

Bishops second game of the day was against Sunderland whose coach had come over whilst we were playing Yarm asking for a game which we duly obliged to.

Bishops started really well with pinning Sunderland in their own half but Sunderland’s forwards were causing us a lot of problems and forcing a lot of mistakes to be made by us.

The first half was a much closer encounter than the first game and it was no surprise when Sunderland went over for the first try of the game which was converted.

The second half started as the frst half had ended with bishops forward˜s not being able to contain Sunderland Forward's and we conceded a number of penalties.

We could not break down Sunderland's defence and when we did the last ditch tackles were good enough to stop Joe going over for a try as he spilled the ball.

Bishops did get back on level terms after Thomas's quick thinking after he took a quick penalty. But minutes later Sunderland were back in front, and then scored another on full time. _

This had been a much bigger test than the first game, as Sunderland had a set of forwards who were superior in their scrumaging, rocking' and mauling and this gave their backs a good platform.

Over the next few weeks as the new players start to gel we can only
improve.

Submitted by Rob Forrester on 21 Oct 09

Under ll's 56 v 21 Yarm Under ll's

The under ll's were away this week to Yarm and this was the first away game of the season for some of our new recruits Jake M and Ewan and only their second game since taking up rugby Q1 a few weeks ago.

Bishops kicked off and soon had Yann under pressure in their own halt; and it was the new boy Jake McKellar who got the first score of the game with a lovely darting run which was duly converted by Sam. It was more of the same from Yarms kick off a wonderful passage of play between the backs with Joe going over for the second try which was converted by Thomas, it was not long before speedy Sam ran the length of the pitch to notch Bishops 3rd try and was converted by J oe. Yarm responded on half time with a try which was converted.

The second half started with a scintillating catch and run Hom Jake Forrest whose first touch of the game was to take a high ball from kick off after coming on as a second half substitute.

It was not long before the next try came from Sam who ran from deep with in his own half to score his second try of the day, which was converted by Joe.

Some sloppy defending gifted Yann a second try from their kick off which they converted. It was not long before Bishops scored again and it was a second try of the Day for Jake M, which was converted by Thomas.

The best play of the day came hom Bishops when Bishops won the scrum and Sam popped the ball out to Jake F who came back inside and off loaded it back along the backs with Thomas going over for his first try of the game.

There were other scores from Thomas and Joe which were converted by Ryan and Keroin, and Yann scored again on full time

Submitted by Rob Forrester on 21 Oct 09

U10s Bish Bash Rovers

Just a few minutes break after the defeat of Seaton the Bishop boys were back on the pitch this time to take on Hartlepool Rovers.
New boys Adam and Kitchy came on in a team much changed from the second half of the Seaton game.

Bishop started the game well and took the attack to Rovers from the start. The outstanding front three stormed the line and after wave after wave of driving play prop Michael buried his way over the line for the first score. He threw the ball in the air in celebration and his smile could be seen all the way from Hartlepool Marina !(1-0 Bishop)

Bishops were now playing a confident brand of rugby involving both forwards and backs and debutant Chris almost made it 2-0 but the fourth official ruled it out after the video replay showed his foot had just made touch.

However Bishop were not denied for long and Jamie quickly added a 2nd waltzing through the middle of the Rovers defence(2-0 Bishop)
Good runs from Liam and Jordan followed and set up Jamie on a weaving run to make it a third for Bishop(3-0 Bishop)

HALF TIME

Coach Hamilton made his final changes of the morning continually refreshing the attacking potency of his side and shortly after the resumption Sam made his way to the line to increase the lead(4-0 Bishop)

Rovers eventually managed a score from close in to give them some hope(4-1 Bishop)

However their hopes were finally snuffed out when after being fed by scrum half Jordan, Toby went on a bullocking run right through the Rovers defence to finish the match with a 5-1 win for Bishop

FULL TIME

This was a great day for the Under 10's and should give them great confidence ahead of their tough games coming up against Sunderland and Darlington

Well Done Everybody

Submitted by Mike Dart on 20 Oct 09

U10s Sublime Bishop Slay Seaton

The Under 10s arrived at Seaton Carew determined to make up for their opening season defeat at the hands of Yarm.

With a strong squad of 16 available Coach Gary Hamilton had the comfort of being able to revolve his team always guaranteeing to have fresh legs available.

Seaton had most of the possession early on but the Bishop tackling was strong and prevented any scoring.
Bishop then had a period of attacking which ended with a try when Sam managed to get his hands on a loose ball to score after a dart for the line from Jordan.(0-1 Bishop)

The Tackling was ferocious throughout from both sides with the occasional high challenge meaning there were several stoppages in the first half. Bishop however were beginning to play some excellent rugby and following a stomping strong run from Toby, the ball was slipped to Sam who was brought down just short of the line, allowing Robert following up to plunge over(0-2 Bishop)

Bishops form improved still further when after a jinking run from Perry,Sam chalked up a third try for Bishop(0-3 Bishop)

HALF TIME

Bishop rang the changes at half time and that seemed to affect them early on allowing Seaton to notch up their first try.(1-3 Bishop)
However Bishop were determined not to let Seaton back into the game and continued to put in the tough tackles to keep them out.

Following decisive and direct running from forwards Stuart and MatthewB the ball was fed through the hands of the three-quarters eventually reaching Perry who finished off the move with a terrific run from the halfway line (1-4 Bishop)

Seaton weren't down and out yet and came back to score again shortly after but the Bishop boys came back strongly and after a loose ball was won back on the ground by Oliver the ball was fed to Scrum Half Harry who went on a long curving run into the corner(2-5 Bishop)
Bishop were now in total control and played some lovely passing rugby in the final quarter of the game and this time Matthew H made a great break splitting the Seaton defence ad touching down for the final score(2-6 Bishop)

FULL TIME

Submitted by Mike Dart on 20 Oct 09

Under 9s v Yarm and Stockton

This week's u9's rearranged fixture sent our boys to Yarm to face last time's opponents Yarm and Stockton along with Sunderland. 12 players travelled, determined to put on a show against teams who had beaten them previously.

In the first game, against Stockton, Bishop began brightly with some decent running, only let down slightly by a little indecision in the tackle. Stockton did what they do best with the ball in hand and ran out to the try line quickly, taking the win.

Our second game, against Yarm, found Bishop matching their opponents all around the field. The highlight of the game came when Leon Turnbull stunned onlookers by seizing the ball deep in his own half and "haring"� off up the pitch. With never before seen speed and determination, he left all but the paceiest of defenders in his wake, and was only just caught before the try line, the ground gained resulting in a try. A nice move by scrum half Nathan and blind side winger Ryan also took the defence by surprise with Ryan shooting down the line to equalise the score at the end of the game.

In the other tie of the game with Sunderland, Bishop showed a marked improvement due to the match experience they were gaining. Handling was sharper and the earlier hesitation in the tackle had gone. Quality refereeing kept the game flowing, but Sunderland just had that little extra on the day to give them the win.

All in all a great day with some invaluable match experience gained and the most made of the time to work on a few drills between games.

Player of the week goes to Kai Richmond who showed his great pace with the ball and some solid tackling in defence. Well done Kai.

Submitted by Jeff Alderson on 19 Oct 09

Tags Report: Seaton Carew/Hartlepool Rovers v Bishop Auckland

Well what a turn out for Bishop Auckland with both U 7's and U8's
travelling to Seaton Carew. A full squad in each age group ready to put what they had been practising to the test. For most of these players it was their first away match, this didn't seem to worry any of them.

After the warm up Bishops u7's took their positions on the pitch against Hartlepool and seemed so little against them, the whistle went and they were straight into the game, going for their tags' chasing the ball, all eager to score a try. A fantastic game with Bishop the victors on the final whistle.

The u8's were more than ready to play bursting with energy as ever.  The cold weather certainly didn't stop them, they were tagging and passing between themselves using their wholeteam to score the tries,they just seem to get better each time they play. A great game that went in Bishops favour.

The mix up with the shirts wasn't a bad omen everyone laughed it off  and the teams yet again gave their all. It was pleasing to see some great performances by such young players.

U7's Team: Andrew James, Ethan, Connor, Nathan, Jack and Ryan.

U8's Team: Luke, James, Ethan, Jack, Alex, Jimmy, and Joseph.

A big thank you to all the parents and relatives who braved the cold, cheered and supported these players.

TRAINING THIS SUNDAY 10.30am AS NORMAL. WRAP UP WELL!

Submitted by Vicky Redfearn on 21 Oct 09

U9s Possession and Strength Not Enough

Bishop under 9's first game of the season got underway with some nervous expressions that could be seen on the faces of all the staff and parents involved. Stockton started the brighter and quickly moved into a 3-0 lead, but this score was pulled back to 3-3 by half time by some determined tackling all-round and an individual injection of pace and direct action from Ryan.

This lifted the spirits of the team for the second half but somehow Bishop's greater possession and strength in the maul from the likes of Lewis, Jon and Jacob just couldn't be converted into tries and Stockton eventually ran out 8-4 winners, a score which didn't represent the closeness of the fixture.

The second game began with a slightly changed line up for Bishop but quickly into the game Yarm found the space they needed to get to the try line. Again, Bishop showed great strength in the maul and tackle with the crash of the day coming from Max as he downed a Yarm winger in full flight. Somehow though the tries just wouldn't materialise for Bishop and the game ended 6-0 to Yarm.

Special thanks must go out to James who selflessly donned a Yarm shirt to help them out in their tie with Stockton. Well done James.
This weeks player of the week goes to Nathan for his fearless pursuit of the tackle and tireless effort to win the ball.
Submitted by Jeff Alderson on 6 Oct 09

Under 13s Battle to no Avail

Bishop Auckland U13 10 Darlington Mowden Park U13 62

Bishop Auckland Under 13s hosted Darlington Mowden Park for their first home match of the season. A number of players from Stockton made up the numbers for the Bishop side, who only had 12 players available. Mowden scored almost straight from the kick-off and soon added another try. Bishop fought back and moved into Mowden territory, Lloyd Purser then scored a try to give Bishop some hope. Mowden then upped the pressure and used their greater pace to outflank their opponents and run in 5 more tries to make the score 47 – 5 at half time.

In the second half, Bishop fought back despite conceding a try early in the half. The rucking and mauling improved with Chris Coates, Sunny Maan and Josh Leonard putting themselves about together with Curtis Hall and Ben Hoggart. Anth Young made some powerful runs. Good work by Lloyd Purser saw him tackled short of the line, but Sam McIvor was on hand to take the ball and score in the corner. The half-backs, Sean Pinel and Alex Bielby played their part, but the ball was not finding its way to Ben Oliver on the wing. As the game reached its end, Mowden took a short lineout and their prop headed towards the line, only to be well tackled by Toby Oliver, the supporting players were able to add the try and another followed on the final whistle to make the score 62 – 10 to the visitors.

This was one of the best teams that Bishop will play this season and they main problem was their lack of speed in the backs, a problem when playing on a full-sized pitch.

Submitted by Stuart McIvor on 6 Oct 09

Bishop Auckland RUFC (Under 14) Vs Stockton RUFC (Under 14)

Score : Lost 0 : 43

Forwards : Matthew Dockray , Luke Handley , Leon Keirl , Liam Stephens , Stefan Walker , Bradley Gates
Backs : Serena Handley , Daniel Woods , Rhys Jarry , Luke Thompson , Josh Dewhurst , Nathan Waterhouse

A Bishop Auckland squad much depleted through illness , faced a strong , fast Stockton team. The Stockton club , allowed several of their players to turn out for the Bishops , this allowed the numbers to be balanced. Stockton dominated the early exchanges with several quick scores. Bishops battled gamely in the first half, with the forwards pack containing several backs holding their own in the set piece. Dewhurst again stood out with his strong running , and Keirl , Dockray & Stephens tackling all over the pitch. However despite the best efforts of the team , the Bishops went in at half time 31-0 down.

The 2nd half was a more even affair , but with Stockton scoring all 12 of the points awarded. For long periods of the 2nd half Bishop Auckland were camped in Stockton’s 22 metre area but due to stout defence by Stockton , they were unable to cross the line. The spirit shown by the Bishop Under 14s throughout the match was a credit to the club .

Bishop 2XV Back to Form

Won 62-0

Bishop Auckland 2XV played hosts to Seaton Carew and after their defeat last week their sole objective was to use this friendly to put the wheels back on the wagon and this they did, but this was no wagon, oh no, this was now a prestigious F1 McLaren and Bishop hit the ground at lighting speed.

Bishop fielded a pretty consistent side in hurricane like conditions that would have blown the cobwebs of me granny’s draws. This didn’t deter the boys in blue and straight from the kick off Patrick Humpert put in two thundering tackles that gave Seaton a taste of what was to come.

This was another demonstration from Bishop in the deconstruction of a side that at first glance looked equally as strong. After 5minutes and from a loose ball, Kevin Watson took the ball in the line and then remembering his youth when he was a different shape!! chipped the ball over the Seaton defence for Andrew Cassidy to take the first try of the match. The wind favoured Bishop in the first half and from a penalty in their 22, the ball was launched down field over Seaton’s full back and ended up over the try line. The race was now on and young Cassidy who had already set of like a grey hound chasing a rabbit had closed down the full back to dive over to clinch a try out of the hands of Seaton.


The second half started with Bishop 34 points up and were now playing into the wind. The forwards work rate was now being tested and loose head prop Larvin Clements was holding the front row and taking ball from Seaton’s scrum. Gary Hamilton had now moved into scrum half and started dictating the play and demonstrated his immense strength when the opposing scrum half latched onto him like a muscle at low tide but was unable to dislodge him were he exhibited a typical American style throw out to the backs.

The try’s were now coming thick and fast for Bishop, and again Gary Hamilton had taken three quick penalties that fed the backs with good ball for Dave Gibson to tie up with Peter Sayer to get his third try. Gary was dancing and shimmying around the Seaton forwards that made the 50 or so spectators wonder if he was wearing Cuban heels instead of rugby boots.

Seaton Carew played the game with great professionalism right down to the final whistle were the game ended 62 points to 0. In summary Bishop took on the test and showed their potential for building a set side for this season with a long term view to next years silver ware.

Forwards man of the match was given to Larvin Clements and backs man of the match went to Andrew Cassidy.

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.