Ponteland shared the honours with West Park Leeds in the Senior Vase this weekend. In a day that had it all - great weather, big hits and trillby hats the team can hold their heads high after a great performance against a strong Yorkshire side.
West Park Leeds 23 Ponteland 23
Report by John Chappell
Whilst most of the games in the North East succumbed to the bad weather again, Ponteland travelled to Leeds to play in the National Senior vase. As both teams had beaten Barnard Castle this was a winner takes all match, with the winner moving to the National quarter final
With the Pont players suffering from trench foot with the constant muddy conditions they found Leeds pitch akin to Twickenham! With five million pounds spent on it the ground and facilities are top notch
With Dan Walton and Chris Stevens not available to travel, Remi Moses moved to fly half, Will Newbigin to centre and a first start for Peter Britland at full back. Leeds had a familiar name on the bench, Mattie Chappell, a Ponteland stalwart!
On a dry, windless day Pont got off to a good start and drove towards the Leeds line. As the ball came back Remi Moses attempted a drop goal. Unfortunately it only rose 3 metres and nearly hit the corner flag!!
Leeds looked to run the ball with their fullback and left winger looking dangerous in space. With the first scrum 20 metres from Pont’s line the forwards drove Leeds backwards only to be penalised for pulling round. This was the first of many decisions that Ponteland found confusing. Leeds missed the kick but continued to press wide as Todza took an interception pass and ran a full 80 metres to score. How come one of the oldest men on the pitch continues to defy science and outrun the youngsters?? 0-7
Leeds were not going to lie down and again ran the ball wide with the winger racing in the corner to score with the conversion making it 7 -7.
Leeds broke out from the kick off and as a pass floated to the outside centre, skipper Danny Harrison cut him in two with a tackle to be proud of.Ponts forwards began to get up a head of steam and following a number of pick and drives a Moses penalty restored the lead 7-10
Again the ding dong nature of the game continued as Leeds pressed forward. A kick ahead was caught by Pete Britland who kicked ahead and Will Newbigin won the chase to score 7-15.
Leeds immediately replied with forage in Pont’s half and a penalty made it 10-15
Following another confused breakdown Leeds lost a player to the bin with Mattie Chappell coming on to shore up the scrum and Moses kicked the penalty 10-18
With a final play of the half Leeds players poured offside and were penalised, only to find the penalty reversed as Kelly was yellow carded for rucking a player out.
Half Time 10-18
With Pont down to 14 men Leeds took full advantage and poured forward looking for the next score. To their credit the visitors defensive work looked solid with Britland and Harrison both putting in try saving tackles. Pont rang the changes with Kyle Norris, Stuart weir and Mike Byrne all entering the field ( with others coming off of course! )
Pont had hardly been out of their half as wave after wave of Leed’s attacks crashed on Ponteland’s defensive wall and eventually after 15 minutes they kicked a penalty 13-18
Leeds now made several changes, including the return of Mattie Chappell , playing against his old club.
The Yorkshire rules again caused confusion as Ponteland’s scrum half Angus White was scragged at the base of the scrum by offside players only to see their back row player pick the loose ball up and crash over for a try. The conversion put Leeds in front for the first time with 8 minutes to go. 20-18
Pont then saw a concerted effort to attack the Leeds line with Moses ultimately dropping a foot below the crossbar with a drop goal attempt. A further Leeds attack was repelled and as Pont felt the momentum running their way the next scrum saw them smash Leeds scum back 5 metres. As the scrum crumpled and went down Pont were penalised for collapsing!!!! Unfortunately vocal complaints marched the penalty 10 metres and Leeds converted to lead 23-18.
With scrums adding extra spice Kelly pushed Mattie Chappell, who pushed back, only to be yellow carded for retaliation!
With one last roll of the dice Ponteland’s backs and forwards interlinked to produce a series of attacking drives with skipper Harrison claiming the try out wide. With full time on the clock everything rested on Moses conversion. Unfortunately the kick dropped tantalisingly short and the game ended 23-23 with Leeds going through as they scored more against Barnard Castle.
This was a hard fought game with both sides giving no quarter and whilst Leeds may be disappointed that they could not convert territory into points Ponteland can be happy with their defensive display.
Although Pont didn’t win the game they did win the drinking hands down as everyone dressed in tweed jackets and trilby’s showed the Leeds members what amateur rugby is all about:
In truth this was an excellent result for Ponteland as they remained unbeaten in the Cup but with a totally congested fixture list until the end of the season the last thing they needed was an extra fixture !
Man of Match – the "age defying" Graeme Turnbull
Dick of the day – Mark Kelly for a yellow, although he retrieved himself by getting Mattie Chappell yellow carded ! Also Craig Robinson for indiscipline giving an extra 10 metres for their penalty at the end
