Published at 09:37, Friday, 27 November 2009

NOT a minute of this match had passed before Prudhoe and Stocksfield took the lead.

Prudhoe and Stocksfield 33, Seaham 5.

It was actually 16 minutes after the scheduled kick off time of 2pm.

Seaham, however, were only just arriving in dribs and drabs at around 1.55pm .

The referee allowed a 15 minute delay but when the game kicked off Seaham had only 12 players on the field, although there were at least six substitutes changed and on the touch line.

Despite the protests the game kicked off.

The kick was not managed, and the disjointed red shirted visitors were penalised and Chris Russell put the home side three up within the first minute.

There was even more consternation when a scrum was called a minute later.

Seaham requested an uncontested scrum, but it was pointed out to them that should they not contest the scrum, then the game would be automatically awarded Prudhoe and Stocksfield.

This seemed to focus their minds and whilst they huffed and puffed for as long as they could, the first scrum went the way of P&S

The play was only five metres off the Seaham line when the next scrum was awarded but was then significantly delayed by a back injury to Chris Dodds.

The Seaham players seemed delighted to see him slowly leave the field as their three missing players took the field.

It made little difference to Prudhoe and Stocksfield, who did to the eight men what they had done to six a few minutes earlier, and pushed them off the ball and backwards.

The visitors survived the pressure and managed to take play to the halfway line for a few minutes before another wave of P&S pressure saw them penalised a second time and punished again by three points.

Five minutes later came the first try as Prudhoe and Stocksfield took good ball at the lineout.

Mikey Brown sent the ball out along the threequarter line where it got as far as Steve Rogers who, with a trademark straight and hard run, ripped through the opposition to touch down.

On the half hour it was Steve who turned provider after a quick free kick saw him gain the ball, and make some yards before releasing Richard Sample for a fine try.

Prudhoe and Stocksfield were in complete control of the game, and of themselves.

There were a few penalties given away but very few compared to those given away by an opposition who were reaping the rewards of their own approach to the game, with constant rearrangement of positions and bickering about who was supposed to be doing what.

At half time the score probably flattered the visitors at 19 –0 to the home side.

The second half began in a most unfortunate manner for P&S, when Andy Marsh and Richard Sample accidentally clashed heads.

That concluded Richards game as he was taken off to hospital with a gash that required some attention.

It also gave Seaham an advantage in the P&S 22-metre area and down the left wing, which they were able to exploit.

Whilst hardly deserved, it did serve to remind the home side that they had lost to Seaham earlier in the season when it was Prudhoe and Stocksfield who, playing their first game of the season, had seemed the less prepared side.

Switched back on and focusing on this match, it took P&S two minutes to score with Steve Rogers again crossing the line for a try which was converted, taking the score to 23-5.

The next 20 minutes were interesting to watch as the visitors really tried to attack the home side. They did not achieve a great deal.

The times that the ball came out of the scrum on their side it was often poor ball and, whilst the fly half was constantly infringing, the referee rarely penalised him, allowing him instead to receive the ball along with Matthew Jefferson and John Ballentyne who punished him all game.

Similarly, if the ball did get out to the centres they were met by a tackling force in the frame of Charlie Tindall who seemed to be up in their faces and did not let them pass.

The rest of the forwards simply kept their heads and kept control no matter how often they were intimidated or goaded around the rucks and mauls.

As the game entered the last 10 minutes, the home side just applied a little more pressure and the result was two five metre push-over tries, both claimed by Ed Halford.

This took the final score out to a more realistic 33-5.

Next week P&S make the long journey to second in the table Whitby, hoping to take that spot from them and with only a point between them a win would see them do that.

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk