Aspatria maintained their unbeaten home record with a 25-10 victory over Stockton in Regional 2 North.
It was an excellent outcome but it would be the weather that would become the main talking point of the day. That a game of rugby took place at Bower Park was an achievement in itself.
The players of both sides were forced to contend with lashing, near horizontal rain and a tormenting wind that regularly made a mockery of each team’s kicking game. Yet, despite the conditions the rival teams conjured up an enthralling contest.
As play progressed, the weather and the deteriorating state of the playing surface inevitably dictated that the game would evolve into a battle of the forwards but it was not until the final ten minutes of play that Aspatria’s pack took command and overcame Stockton’s dogged resistance.
Aspatria opened the scoring after seven minutes courtesy of a Matty Irving penalty kick and followed this up with a try from left winger Euan Nicholson.
The try came from a rare passage of open play starting just inside the Stockton half. It was started by centre Luke Johnson who took off on an arcing run before straitening up to hold the defence and put Nicholson clear to dot down at the corner flag.
Twenty minutes into the game, Aspatria were looking comfortable when a second penalty from Irving increased the lead to 11-0.
Whilst line-outs became a lottery for both teams the home side established a clear advantage in the set piece scrum and their scrum dominance earned a number of penalties for Aspatria which were used to keep the pressure on Stockton.
This did not translate into points and just before half time Stockton came back into contention with a penalty to end the first period 11-3 in arrears.
There was a transformation in Stockton’s game plan from the start of the second half. The visitors came to terms with the terrible conditions and began to use them intelligently, forcing Aspatria back into defensive positions.
Perhaps unwisely Aspatria persisted with attempts to run the ball out of defence and on 57 minutes paid a price for this. They lost possession inside the 22 where the Stockton pack took over and rolled in for a converted try.
Within a point Stockton were very much back in the game and on 65 minutes Stockton once again disrupted Aspatria’s efforts to run the ball and earned a kickable penalty which would have given them the lead. The kick initially looked good but a blast of wind did just enough to send it wide, much to Aspatria’s relief.
With the game moving into the final ten minutes Aspatria recovered composure. The scrum was now a lethal weapon and it was this launching pad that delivered two late tries.
With six minutes remaining and with Aspatria enjoying a sustained period close to the Stockton try line the killer score was delivered.
Stockton simply ran out of defenders as members of Aspatria’s pack ran in sequence at the line with Phil Dixon finally taking the ball over.
With the final play of the game a third try was delivered. Number eight Matthew Atkinson broke right, from the back of a scrum and made progress into the 22 where he was joined by full-back
Jordan Ostle who took the ball on but his route to the line was blocked by defenders leaving him to put in a sublime grubber kick and provide winger Alex Barton with a fighting chance of winning the race to touch down. That was all Barton needed as he raced through and beat two defenders to tap the ball down.
