Morpeth Under 15's v Gosforth Under 15's. Sunday 14th March 10 

After a long time off the team scribe finally managed to make it to a game and as usual got lumbered with running the line.

After a bad run of defeats the Gosforth lads had todays game to look forward to, with help from Adam ( the first team captain) giving the backs a hand with some coaching it was going to be interesting to see how the team got on.

I had heard that Morpeth weren’t having their best season either so it was going to be an interesting game.

Gosforth were down on numbers with Liam (hand injury), Oscar (chest infection) being out meant we had the bare bones of a squad.

The game started well for Gosforth who’s forwards were definitely out muscling the Morpeth lads, but poor defence saw Morpeth sneak in for the first score.

The lads rallied and played some good rugby, especially the backs who had come in for a bit of stick recently. Martyn filled in for Liam at fly half and had the best game head played for a while, making a couple of breaks and good tackling, the backs looked like they wanted to run with it, Josh played at inside centre and played really well, off loading and tackling with his usual ferocity.

Unfortunately against the run of play Morpeth sneaked another which was converted, again assisted by some poor defensive work by the Gosforth back line. 

This seemed to spur on the Gosforth team and after piling on a lot of pressure in the Morpeth twenty two Rob scored after a well timed pass by Jamie, who was having a good game . A neat drop kick conversion made the half time score 14 – 7.

The second half saw Gosforth playing uphill and into a slight breeze. The forwards were playing extremely well winning almost all of the scrums and line outs and showing aggression at the breakdown.

The forwards continued the pressure and after some good interplay and a quick penalty that saw James sprinting down the line we scored courtesy of Jamie who had a good inside pass a couple of side steps and scored out on the right. James missed the conversion, but it was close.

Morpeth then scored a good try by the their no 8 Callum, after some pressure on the Gosforth line.

Undeterred the Gosforth team fought back and continued to try and play some fluid rugby, the backs tried hard and were guilty of over trying which led to the final try of the game. To me it appeared that the Morpeth lad knocked the ball on but the referee ruled otherwise.

We got beat today but for three mistakes the score could have been different. For me the result wasn’t so important as the manner in which we played. All of the lads played really well, the best performance for the backs was Jamie ( backs man of the match) and Kieran ( forwards man of the match)

I was pleased to see a lot of happy faces, even after the defeat, John Rutter played well to, commiserations to Andy who had to leave the field with a dead leg but played very well up to that point. Terry played well when he came on, running straight and showing good controlled aggression, Michael did very well in the front row too.

We seem to have turned a corner and but for a couple of errors we would have won the game, we made the Morpeth coach look like he’d lost a pound and found a penny. I think that Tom was a much happier man after this game. I know I was.

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Durham Under 15's v Gosforth Under 15's. Sunday 13th December 09 

Today’s game was against Durham at Hollow Drift. The weather conditions were ripe for rugby so I anticipated a good game.

The team had only sixteen players, there were a couple in Germany, one sick and two who just didn’t show, you know who you are.

The start of the game was interesting in so much that it was a fifteen minute walk to the pitch we were playing on, a very pleasant stroll along the banks of the Wear.

The pitch was very heavy looking so perhaps free flowing, fast running rugby would be difficult.

The game started as a scrappy affair with both sides making errors, handling and others. It appeared that the game would follow this pattern with both sides being guilty of elementary errors.

Durham took the lead after some good inter passing and their left winger Lightburn touched down under the posts leaving an easy conversion for the fly half. 7-0 to Durham.

Gosforth fought back well and had the Durham lads pinned back in their own half, with strong tackling from Martyn and Craig in the centres.

A good spell of pressure say Will skip through the Durham defence to score wide out on the left leaving a difficult conversion for James, unfortunately he missed. Score 5-7 to Durham.

From here on the rest of the first half was fragmented and loose passing by Gosforth saw an interception by Tom Studd who ran clear of the chasing Gosforth players and scored under the posts, he converted his own try. 15-5 to Durham.

Soon afterwards Martyn made a tackle and was competing for the ball when he was injured by one of the Durham players landing on top of him, whilst almost doing the splits, the result appears to be a torn muscle in his butt. He was helped from the pitch and was sportingly applauded by the Durham lads. Enter Colly to the match.

A quick shuffle of the backs saw Louie, now on the wing and Colly at fullback.

There was a lot of tooing and frowing between the teams each seemingly incapable of of keeping hold of the ball.

Will continued to play well but appeared to lacking a bit of practise but had a good game none the less.

Alex did well at the the rucks and mauls to clear the ball to the backs but we were a bit stationary today so momentum was never in our favour.

The best player of the first half was Big Steve, who’s only fault was over being too eager to get to the kick offs and ended up over running, seems he may have been having secret sprinting sessions.

The second half brought a raft of changes from Durham and this appeared to upset their rhythm a bit. My opinion was that I thought we shaded the second half and our forwards were running the Durham lads ragged but stout defending by them went in their favour.

The second half saw us lose John to injury but Durham kindly loaned us one of their players, a lad known to some of the Gosforth players from the rugby league, Charlie, he went to number eight.

 Gosforth had some really good opportunities to score and a fantastic driving maul by the forwards, led by Cookie saw us come up a little short of the line.

 Lawrence had another good game by making a nuisance of himself amongst the Durham forwards. Callum had a good game too, especially at the breakdown, winning the ball on more than one occasion.

The scorers pencil was not troubled again during the game and the final score was 14 – 5 to Durham.

Whilst Durham won we had numerous opportunities to score ourselves so we can feel a bit disappointed that we did not finish off our chances. The Durham team did defend very well and probably deserved to shade their win but poor attitude from some of the Gosforth players mixed with general sloppiness made for a frustrating game, I have dozens of more grey hairs as a result.

Man of the match in the forwards, Callum but Big Steve could have got it too.

Man of the match for the backs, Alex closely followed by Colly.

Gosforth Under 15's v Ryton Under 15's. Sunday 22nd November 2009

The weather conditions were great today for rugby, a typical Autumnal day.

The Ryton side were a big bunch of lads so a tough match was anticipated. Their pack being especially big, I’m fairly sure that they must have had the day off work to play, just kidding lads.

The game started well for Gosforth and we put a bit of pressure on the Ryton team, playing a lot of rugby in the opposition half. After some decent looking driving play Callum scored just to the left of the posts and this was coverted by James.

Ryton then used their size to good effect and from some rampaging forward play their man, Coulson crossed for a try. The conversion was missed.                    Score 7 – 5.

Shortly afterwards, a strong run by Nick Cairns, the Ryton outside centre, assisted by some poor defensive work by Gosforth, saw the visitors take the lead, this time the conversion was successful by Horsfall, the Ryton scrum half.

Score 7- 12

This seemed to galvanise the Gosforth team and after some good play by the forwards, Liam timed a good pass to Martyn who managed to put James over in the corner for a try,   James then converted making the halftime score    14 – 12.

In the second half Gosforth played into the wind but were finding it tough against the much larger Ryton side, the Ryton Fly half played well and seemed to be able to create overlaps with his running and passing lines.

One such move set Cairns away again and he scored near to the posts leaving an easy conversion for Horsfall.

I think the Gosforth lads lost their way a bit after this, although the play was fairly even it was apparent that the Gosforth forwards were struggling with the power and size of the Ryton pack.

Ryton’s , Cairns scored another try despite the close attentions of Martyn  who chased hard, I think if it had been another five metres he would have had him. The conversion was missed.

There were several substitutions by both teams and this seemed to affect the game which fizzled out leaving Ryton the winners.

Final score 14 – 24.

I think overall Ryton deserved the win as they used the ball more wisely and played to their strengths, I’m not sure what’s in the water over there but it makes for a big bunch of lads.

This wasn’t one of our better games although Josh played well and at times the backs looked threatening we just needed to move the ball out more.

Next week is a cup match versus Ponteland.

Thanks also to Simon O’Neil for refereeing the game.

Backs man of the match : Jamie for another gritty performance at scrum half.

Forwards man of the match : Josh.

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Another great day for rugby at Druids Park. The visitors today were Hartlepool Rovers, a team we had not played before, but they came with a good reputation, so a good game was anticipated.

Gosforth buoyed by their thirteen man success from the last game were full of confidence and actually managed to have a full team and five subs.

Straight from the kick off some early pressure by the massive Gosforth forwards found them in the Rovers 22 and after some good interplay between Robert and then James a try was scored, the conversion was missed 5-0 to Gosforth.

 Almost straightaway Gosforth were back in the Rovers half after the newly drilled forwards muscled their way down towards the opposition try line, some how Terry managed to break through almost all of the Rovers forwards, to touch down for a well worked and very popular try. The conversion was missed 10- 0.

This seemed to spur on Rovers and they managed to put some good pressure on Gosforth and earned a penalty about ten metres from the home teams try line which they took quickly and scored, this was converted score 10-7.

The game was a very even affair and Gosforth seemed to have the ascendancy in the forwards, who were playing multiphase rugby and controlling  the breakdown. The Gosforth scrum was also very strong. Cookie, Cal and Terry doing very well against a big Rovers front row.

The backs had more pace than Rovers and the tactical kicking was very good too, Liam and Louis showing that both had the deftness of touch with Jonny Wilkinson style chips and kicks.

James scored again after some slick handling in the backs, he was put over by Martyn.

Half time 15 – 7

The game was stopped for a short time whilst a paramedic attended to Sean Ruff who unfortunately took ill and had to go to hospital.

Rovers, responded with another good penalty kick.

When the game resumed Gosforth were just as competitive and after some clever play at a penalty situation by Jamie who shaped up to kick to touch then passed to Liam, this resulted in Martyn’s trade mark sidestep which this time found him in space, he arced his run to score, unfortunately the kick was missed, 20 – 10.

Soon after Rovers centre slotted an excellent penalty to make the score 20 -13 and set up for a good finish.

Gosforth then went on the rampage again and were awarded a penalty ten metres from the Rovers posts, up stepped Terry “the boot” Morgan, who nonchalantly stepped up and perfectly bisected the posts.

Final score 23 – 13.

This was a good win thanks go to Rovers for a good hard and fair contest played in the spirit in which the game should be.

Special mentions go to Jamie, man of the match in the backs for his excellent performance at scrum half, he tackled ferociously and passed the ball with pin point accuracy. Also to “Big” Steve for a well rounded performance, he earned the forwards man of the match.

It goes without saying that everyone played their part in a resurging Under 15 team, special thanks to the subs who didn’t get any game time this week, rest assured there will be plenty of opportunities to come.

Finally lets all hope that Sean recovers quickly, man of the match off the field goes to Lawrence Senior for assisting Sean and providing reassurance and to Sarah who also assisted.

 Next week another tough game away to Ripon. 

Gosforth U15s vs North Shields U15s

In a hastily arranged fixture Gosforth travelled to North Shields with only 14 players, the half term Holiday and sickness taking its toll on the squad.  

The weather conditions were very bright but there was a strong westerly wind. Gosforth played into it in the first half.

North Shields were the first to score when one of their centre’s managed to free the ball from a ruck and ran under the posts unopposed. Gosforth were subjected to a barrage of attacks near to their own try line but managed to repel the “Shieldsman”. This stout defence changed the course of the game.

A short while later the ball was freed from a ruck and a big surge started up the pitch towards the opposition try line. Martyn eventually touched down after some fine inter play between the backs and forwards, James managed to covert. Robert then disrupted the “Shields” line out and managed to pick the ball up and score.

Half time 12 - 7 to Gosforth.

In the second half with the wind Gosforth picked up their game, Martyn scored again after an outrageous dummy left him with a huge gap and a simple run in to the line. James scored next after a speculative clearance kick by Louie, James showed just how much pace he has.

Robert scored a fine “blocking try” after some great handling by him and Captain, Josh.

Martyn scored a couple more one after some fantastic catching and passing between Liam and Louie. The forwards were now completely “bossing” the match, North Shields are a physical side and were matched and surpassed them.

Liam then made one of the best tackles I have ever seen, he chased back one of their forwards who was really odds on to score, not only did he catch him, despite a size difference he managed to wrestle him into touch.

The lads have worked really hard in training on rucking and mauling and with the addition of Cookie in the scrum we have become a more powerful team. Callum played very well today despite his opposite number being nearly twice as big!! It was good to see Oscar return after a period of injury, he contributed well and was unlucky not to score. Jack played well, as did “BIG” Steve who despite picking up an injury early on managed to play through the pain. Terry had a solid game too. Last but not least was Michael who ended up in the front row after Callum went off, he played really well, there’s been a huge improvement in his skills and game awareness.

Final score 45 - 7.

Man of the match: Liam

Second place (but only just): Robert.

A final thank you to the supporters club there were eighteen of us there all cheering the Lads on