Saturday saw the second team continue their march towards silverware with the semi-final of the junior cup played against medicals second team. Match report by Jonny 'Cool' Kulik.
A rare sunny afternoon and the prospect of two good rugby sides sent the masses flocking to Medicals Heaton Road ground to watch the semi-final of the Junior cup, with many shunning the local Tee’s – Tyne derby for a seat in the Cartington Terrace Stand. The talent on show was evident before kickoff, with Ms’s Graydon, Freer, McGlashan (YES OMG!) and Kulik (x2…player…) to the fore (Ms Bennett was probably watching the wrong game, like normal). A decent warm up put the Mighty 2’s in the right frame of mind for the clash against the young Medicals.
Pont chose to receive the kick off, playing with the slight breeze at their backs, for the first half. With the kick off high and hanging it was claimed cleanly (not an easy task this season), and the ball was secured on the 10 metre line and quick ball unleashed the backs straight away. Some slick handling by Young, with an inch perfect out of the back door, round the back pass, unleashed the pocket rocket Noodle, who gassed his man and was in on the fullback. Good support but poor communication led to a wasted scoring opportunity in the first minute of the game. The support was there to blast over creating quick ball but smart, but foul play by the fullback (ex- Ponteland, Harry) slowed the ball down giving a penalty to Pont.
The ball was chipped for a catch and drive, showing the Mighty 2’s want to play positive, attacking rugby. This decision was met by standing ovation by the travelling Pont supporters (there was nowhere to sit…). The resultant line-out didn’t go to plan with a not straight verdict given by the referee. Chance wasted. However, it was a great start by Pont, who set their stall out from the whistle as was discussed during the warm up.
The next 10 or so minutes saw some big defence and attacking play by both sides, with both sets of forwards testing one another out at scrum time and around the fringes. Both sets of backs showing a willingness to keep the ball in hand rather than playing for territory.
A strong Pont scrum midfield saw the captain for the day, Younger pick up from the base of the scrum and attack right. With the evergreen- Varley hitting one of his trade mark out to in lines, Younger saw the gap and fed JV through the whole. Good covering by the Medics winger slowed JV who offloaded back inside to Bennett with Cipriani (sorry Hobson) in support. Unselfishly, Bennett executed a textbook 2 on 1, putting Hobson over the line. Good thinking by Hobson saw him turn towards the posts (his Cipriani, kicking alter-ego) to touch down near the right hand post. Converted by Chippy ‘Wilkinson’ Young. 7-0, BOOM.
The rest of the half seemed to be all Pont, with the scrum holding firm and Freer snaffling many a Medics ball in the lineout. A silly penalty given away by Pont for apparent “back-chat” to the ref (he must have had very good hearing) saw the Medicals kicker, kick an inch perfect punt into the corner. Pressure from Freer at the front of the lineout forced yet another turn over and a booming box kick by Kulik aided by the fullback dropping it ended probably the only scare of the half for Pont. With half time looming and Pont having the lion’s share of possession another score was definitely on the cards. An attacking scrum 10 metres from the try line was picked up by captain, Younger and as is all too common this season, trundled over the line with several would be tacklers hanging off every limb, with relative ease to score. Young ‘Wilkinson’ converting for a 14-0 half time lead. An attempted drop goal from the half way line by the ex Ponteland Fullback, personified the defensive dominance of Pont in the first half.
The main theme of the half time talk was to maintain both the attacking rugby on display and more importantly, maintain our shape. Other lesser topics mentioned were 1/ Killing the game off with picks and go’s and 2/ How Sam Krarup had “banged my bird”. Both topics were disliked by the author both at the time and at time of going to print.
The start of the second half could not have gone any worse for Pont. Having contained the kick-off, with a great kick off chase by the forwards were unready for the Medical breakout. Throwing the ball wide, the Medical 13 hit a great line taking him through the defence. Offloading to the supporting winger who raced away to score under the posts. Converted by the infallible boot of the Fly-half. 14-7, Pont were now in a game.
Pont’s heads did not drop and responded with some powerful runs, with HOM, Freer and Dias in the centre, to the fore. However, indiscipline started creeping into the Ponts game and a series of “penalties” awarded by the referee allowed the Medicals to get close to the Pont line. Around this time McGlashan was replaced by Curry in the front row. A precise kick to the corner from a penalty gave Medicals the line-out 5 metres out. With Freer being as close to the 5 metre line as was physically possible (virtually mounting HOM), he stole the line-out and the ball was set up. A mortar of a box kick from Kulik cleared the lines but stayed in field. A good chase by Bennett and Kulik (he is that fast/good) put pressure on the Medicals winger. With “END HIM” calls ringing around the stadium, the winger was promptly “ended”. Good Medicals support though got the ball promptly away from the breakdown and the fringe defence of the forwards to the other side of the field, where the kick chase of the Pont backs was poor. The Medicals other winger got the ball early in acres of space to turn his man inside and out and score under the posts. A good example of how to counter attack. The conversion was added. 14-14 with 30 minutes to go.
Anything can happen in the next half hour. Stand by for action (Stingray, de na nar na nar na!). Pontelands lead was all now but gone and it looked like the tides had turned. However, this try seemed to galvanise Pont, with the more experienced players stepping up and turning the screw on their opposite men, with Curry in the scrum and Freer in the lineout to the fore. A good steal from the kick off and strong fringe carrying by the forwards got Pont within striking distance of the line. A wide pass from the breakdown from Kulik to Chippy drew the defence out and a neat pop back inside to Bennett put him clean through. About to touch down, Bennett was dismayed to hear the ref’s shrill whistle, with the pass being adjudged forward. Bennett was inconsolable (*). The resultant scrum saw a neat move by the Medicals backs, with the 13 hitting a nice line. A breakout was on. With the 13, 3 on 1 with Sockett at fullback, he fed the support who was clean through. However, another blast of the whistle from the unsighted referee, halted play for another forward pass. This was a let off for Pont.
A fine example of ball retention and recycling followed, with strong runs from the forwards unleashing the backs and good recycling of by the backs, with Sockett and Dias (ex backrow) showing that the “pretty boys” aren’t afraid of some hard graft. Pont were awarded a scrum 5 metres from the Medicals line. The Medicals scrum half saying to Kulik “You’ve just telegraphed a number 8 pick up” and Kulik replying “Good luck in stopping him”. No surprises as to what happened next. Captain courageous, Younger picked up from the base of a strong scrum, that had driven the Medicals backwards, palmed the scrum half and the six aside and dived over the line for another textbook “Rick Younger try”. The conversion was missed. 19-14. Another penalty was added to the score, from another foray into the Medicals 22. Score now 22-14 and a smart move as Medicals now had to score twice.
The next period of play saw a barrage of attack on the Ponteland with Medicals throwing the kitchen sink in an effort to get another score. For 5 minutes (and 6 penalties), play was never more than 10 metres from the Pont line, but the line held firm with some massive fringe defence by the forwards and good blitz defence by the three quarter line, stopped the Medicals getting the ball wide. A surge over the line by the Medicals prop, the biggest man on the field was thwarted by Kulik (the opposite) who got underneath the ball (and crushed). Good work by Curry in the scrum, won Pont the ball against the head and allowed Pont to clean their lines and the masses of wounded bodies, strewn across the battlefield. Krarup came on at 10 for the injured Young and Powell replaced Hobson. Hobson had another fine game in the back row and probably for the first time in history kept his Cipriani alter-ego at bay and did not kick. Those drugs DO work! Hooray (for boobies).
I can’t remember how Medicals scored their third try but It was scored and converted so the score now 22-21, it was going to be a tight finish. This was the last time that the Medicals got near the Pont line, as the forwards overpowered their Medicals counterparts in every aspect. Freer, Graydon and Curry were stealing nearly every set piece and winning all of their own and HOM producing fine examples of one man counter rucking. The backs were keeping things simple with direct running from Dias and JV, meant the Pont machine was once again edging ever closer to the Medicals try line.
An attacking scrum 5 metres from the Medicals line gave Younger the opportunity to complete his hat trick. A quick pick up and a burst over the line, he grounded the ball, only for the referee to judge the ball held up (probably by the grass). So Pont scrummed down again. This time the forwards edged towards the line. The Medicals were keen to prevent the try so their backrow were up like meerkats, don’t know why they bothered, they hadn’t succeeded all game. When Younger picked up, he scored! This completed a fine hat trick capping off a great performance by the captain. Talking of captains, this also marked the point when Joe Laser (unused Sub) was sent to the stands by the irate referee for poor banter.
This score seemed to totally take the wind out of the Medicals sails, having battled so valiantly all game against the strong Pont side but been unable to stop them scoring. With 5 minutes to go and more than one score ahead, Pont were supposed to be just running down the clock. However, a deep kick by the Medicals fly half was gathered by Sockett and noticing a broken field set off on a strong mazy run, fending off and crashing through several players. A knock on ensued (not by Sockett) and a turn over scrum followed. Younger fed Kulik going blind, who fed Krarup on the loop who raced away with Noodle, 2 on 1 with the full back. Krarup fed Noodle who opened up the throttle and seemed destined to score in the corner, only to be thwarted by a fine covering tackle by the scrum half.
The game ended moments later and there was jubilation from the Pont players and hoards of travelling fans, with air horns and Maroon flavoured flares filling the afternoon sky (*). The Medics, although beaten were gracious in defeat and vocally rapturous tunnel exit for the Ponteland lads. This game was contested against 2 very strong sides both willing to play attacking rugby and keep the ball alive. “Man-ing up” has been a common phrase used throughout the campaign and was evident on the field of play, with Ponteland being dominant in virtually every facet of the game, come the final whistle. It was a strong team performance and there were several exceptional performances by players, who would not look out of place in the first team. This strength in depth is the reason why Ponteland as a club is being successful this year.
So now to the final, with a premise of silverware on the cards against Blyth, to be played on Sunday 28th March at Novocastrians ground.
As much support is needed by the Mighty 2’s from the Ponteland RFC massif, if they are to round off a fine season in style by lifting some silverware.
MoM’s: Rick Younger- for a fine captains performance and a hat-trick
Chris Freer- for being dominant and stealing many a lineout
DoD: No body deserved this but the author would like to suggest JOE LASER for leading a premature pitch invasion and poor banter. Both cases were dealt with by the referee, with the use of physical force, man handling the culprat (every pun intended) off the field of play and banishing him from whence he’d came (the stands).
Much Love
Jonny Cool Kulik
*Artistic license was used in the creation of this masterpiece. Events described are based on true events but may not appear in the order or magnitude described forth with.
