The mighty 2's left it late in the day to secure a hard fought victory against Percy Park to win the quarter finals and keep their winning streak going. Final score 20-24.
After a bright start in the game, in the first ten minutes Ponteland took the lead following a great sequence of possesion and phases. The breakthrough came from some quick ball and newly returned Pete Britland accelerated on a good line to race through and touch down. Will McGawley duly added the 2 points to take a 7-0 lead. Ponteland were demonstarting their superiority upfront and were solid at set pieces and the breakdown.
The opposition had quality though and were not affected by this early show of strength. They retaliated in kind with a strong series of phases in ponts half and pulled defenders first wide right and then switching play back to the left to score on the left wing. Conversion added 7-7. Ponteland then worked the territory up into Parks half and built phases but lacked the penertration required to secure points. with the play quite lateral Parks inside center gambled and intercepted a pass between the backs and raced clear to score at the other end. 14-7.
Ponteland reacted well again and sucked in their big forwards and with a series of powerful drives Simon Hobson squeezed through to touch down only for the try to be disallowed. the ball was then turned over and the opportunity gone to draw level. A clearly frustrated Park player then let loose with his fist onto Simon Hobson (a temptation hard to resist for most). The ref had spotted the incident but deemed only appropriate to issue a yellow. Trying to keep what had been a physical, yet disciplined and positive game flowing no doubt...?
With 10 minutes with Park down to 14, Ponteland failed to make the most of the advantage and failed to add to their tally. Early in the second half a well worked moved off the back of the scrum created an overlap for another Park try and then a penalty too. Score 20-7 to Park. Ponteland then rallied with strong showings from the bench with the substitutions of Ross Dias and Craig Ciura. With 11 minutes to go Park were all out of steam, their pack started jogging backwards at the scrum and were out of ideas in the lineout too.
Holes where tacklers were previously blitzing started to appear and even though Ponteland were attacking up the hill, the surge of runners and offloads were creating the line breaks that had been missing all game. The first points for ponteland since their first 10 minutes came from resurgent winger Peter Sockett who fended off first his opposite number and then the fullback whilst flirting dangerously close to the touch line to score under the posts. Will added the con to make it 20-14. GAME ON.
Wth 6 minutes left needing a converted try to win, the kick off was switched and driven hard and low at Joe 'safe hands' Laser. Much to his and his team mates surprise he took it cleanly. Ponteland worked up the field and a quick pick up from a ruck released super sub Ross to score out wide. 20-19. 4 minutes to go.
This surge was flowing through the vains of everyone at Pont and Park starved of possesion and clearly exhausted from the efforts of the game heads went down. The quality and fitness of this winning Ponteland 2nd team could not be denied thier place in the semi finals. A relieved team (not to mention skipper) saw Chris Robson score on the right wing to seal a hard earnt victory. Much like Wales the previous weekend this was not a classic performance but was certainly a classic victory.
Park were although dissappointed very gracious in defeat and the referee commented that as a neutral he was impressed with the discpline and the spirit in which the game was played - Praise indeed.
Try Scorers:
Pete Britland
Peter Sockett
Ross Dias
Chris Robson
Cons:
W McGawley (2off)
MoM: Mark Thomson for being invincible in the tight and like an extra flanker in the loose
Next game: League fixture at home v. Gateshead 27/02
Semi Final of the Junior Vase 13/03
