West Cumbria Colts recorded their first win in the Northumberland/Cumbria League with a hard-fought 17-15 win over Blaydon.
It had followed a highly promising performance at Darlington Mowden Park when an injury-hit side had gone down narrowly 17-12 to the hosts.
The Blaydon game was played at Wigton on Sunday and West Cumbria got off to an impressive start, keeping the ball alive and moving it into space.
This resulted in conceding a five-metre scrum, from where number eight James Stanaway picked up, went blind and opened the scoring. Logan Scales converted.
Blaydon hadn’t really touched the ball at this point, however, they soon showed that once they had the ball, it was difficult to get it off them.
Maintaining possession for the next ten minutes they looked likely to score when they worked a large overlap, only for home winger Stuart Reid to make a crucial tackle.
It was something that Reid did on a number of occasions throughout the game.
However, Blaydon did reduce the arrears with an unconverted try down the short side.
West finally got some further possession and after some sustained pressure near the Blaydon line, it was Stanaway who went in for his second try following some good handling from the team. Once again Scales converted.
The remainder of the first half was very close with both teams having half opportunities.
The start of the second half saw Blaydon continue to pressurise the West line and eventually crossing it for another unconverted try.
West started to come back into the game and the pressure led to some penalties of their own which they were unable to convert into points.
When Blaydon responded they moved the ball from one side of the field to the other, creating an overlap and scoring out wide for an unconverted try to take the taking lead for the first time at 15-14.
With ten minutes left on the clock, West looked for another try. Stanaway with another break; Stuart Reid almost over from out wide; Matty McVay trying to power through a tight space and continuous breaks from Charlie Bell all went close.
In the end, it came down to a penalty, 38 metres out, right in front and despite the wind, Scales kicked what proved to be the vital three points.
It was pleasing to see more lads making their debuts with the squad. Luke Spivey, Matty McVay and Alf Foster were the latest debutants.
One of the coaches Andrew Branthwaite said: “The lads have worked hard, with the core being committed for a long time now and it was pleasing to see them celebrate together as a team.
“There is still plenty of improvement left in this side and hopefully they can take the belief from this success forward for the rest of the season.”
A much-improved second-half team performance had seen the West Cumbria Colts get closer to that elusive first win at Mowden Park.
They hadn’t played for three weeks but were delighted to be back in action with new team shirts, sponsored by Smurfit Kapa.
Mowden Park had scored from a turnover within the first minute of the game and it wasn’t long before they doubled their lead after moving the ball into the space out wide.
The West Cumbria scrum was much improved, however, and they dominated in this area early on. This gave them some confidence and as the half developed, they started to get some ball movement of their own to provide a threat.
Fred Smeaton and Keane Martin provided some great pocket support to maintain continuity and their kick, chase and pressure to get the ball back was also used to good effect at times.
Despite the good work DMP managed to score a final try just before the end of the first half. Unfortunately, West lost their fly-half Jake Lee to concussion during the build-up to this try.
After the break, West Cumbria’s first try was created by a good scrum allowing number eight Sam Blair to pick and challenge their fly-half. Sam then put a kick in for the winger (loaned by DMP) to catch and score with Owen Beattie converting.
Building in confidence it wasn’t long before they were on the scoresheet again.
This time it was prop James Stanton, who got a deserved try, having made some line breaks throughout the game and always looking to keep the ball alive throughout. When the line break came a bit closer to the line than some of his earlier ones, there was only one outcome.
DMP came close on two occasions, but West stood resilient and held them up over the line.
West continued to try things, getting creative at the line out, but unfortunately could not get that crucial next try.
Logan Scales and Beattie made their debuts. Scales controlled the game well from scrum-half and Beattie made some good breaks and didn’t look out of place in what was his first game of rugby union.
