WITH the start of the cricket season robbing the rugby team of players, Prudhoe and Stocksfield sank to a 61-0 defeat to Houghton.

With 12 players at their disposal, they travelled to Houghton expecting the worse but they did battle admirably, particularly in the opening exchanges.

They actually took the game to their full strength hosts for the first 15 minutes, with Yanick Debil catching up for missing the first half of the season as he and last minute participant John Whitfield, at scrum half, driving forward.

With Hicker Reed approaching the field in various bits of borrowed kit, Houghton were pinned back on their own line and had barely touched the ball.

However, once Houghton got the upper hand, it was all one-way traffic and the Northumberland side played as well as they could against the odds.

There were some little cameos throughout and Houghton’s nine tries meant Luke Masters had 10 goes at tackling the catcher from the kick off. He achieved 10 out of 10!

Will Foster did well in front of the front row and ran directly at the opposition, while Michael Henderson towered above his tall opponents.

Despite brave challenges, with Nick Sherwin and Andy Marsh giving the home side no advantage in the scrums, Houghton ran in four tries before the break.

Prudhoe’s tiredness was soon forgotten as they pushed their hosts back after half time, with Dan Gennery a safe full back and both Matt and Jonathon Nevin prepared to run with the ball at every opportunity.

Gary Wilson put in a rare 80 minutes and Dave Rodgers was in the thick of every ruck or maul, while captain Dave Henry put in a first class performance alongside the ever reliable Jonathan Dodd.

It was a disappointing way for P&S to end a promising season as, after being deducted 10 points at the beginning of the campaign for failing to fulfill fixtures, they climbed their way up to eighth with some great wins.