Redcar and Shields In A Ding Dong Battle

North Shields kicked off with a slight wind at their backs, but Redcar went straight on the attack and took the ball to Shields 22. From a lineout Drew Reader made ground then Shaun Hodgson drove towards the line and then prop Matty Regan crashed over to score after only 4 mins, 5 – 0. Just 3 mins later Shields scored an easy try under the posts, when Redcar’s backs forgot that they were supposed to tackle, 5 – 7. On 11 mins Redcar’s forwards put some good driving moves together and drove up to the Shields 22 and as Shields committed penalty after penalty Redcar ploughed on and a great short pass from scrumhalf Damian Buck to centre Gabe Holmes saw him breaking through to score, this was converted by Danny Addison, 12 – 7.
Then the game see-sawed again and Redcar gave an intercepted pass to Shields who scored again and re-took the lead, 12 – 14. On 20 mins it was Redcar’s turn again and flanker Brad Smith intercepted a Shields pass and raced up the field, the other forwards took it on a bit more then the ball came out to Luke Watson who raced away to score and it was converted by Danny Addison from wide out, 19 – 14. Shields once again hit back and scored on 26 mins and they took the lead 19 – 21. Just before half time the refs patience finally gave way and Shields No.6 was given a yellow card for an accumulation of penalties. Redcar took advantage of this and mins later flyhalf Richie Young scored to regain the lead, 24 – 21

Half Time Redcar 24 North Shields 21

Redcar restated the game and now had the wind advantage, but as you might guess it was Shields to score another converted try on 55 mins, 24 – 28. As the game went on, Redcar’s fullback Danny Addison scored what was the best try of the game, once again the forwards made ground, then the ball went out to the backs, Danny came into the line, he ran off with his winger outside him, dummied the defence and ran in under the posts and then converted it, 31 – 28. This rallied Shields and as the clock reached 70 mins they reached Redcar’s 22, they then got a penalty near the posts and took a quick tap and drove for the line they were rebuffed, but got the ball out to the wing and scored in the corner, 31 – 33. The game then took another bizarre twist, Shields kicked the ball up the wing to Redcar’s 22, winger Luke Watson hoofed it back over the Shields players, he chased after it, caught the bouncing ball, dodged the remaining defence and raced in under the posts to score and regain the lead for the last time, 38 – 33. In the final few mins Redcar again got to the Shields try line again and drove for the corner, Shields infringed and Redcar were awarded a penalty. Richie Young asked the ref if time was up and then tapped the ball and kicked it off the field, not wanting to give Shields any chance of another score.

Full Time Redcar 38 North Shields 33

Definitely a strange game of twists and turns, not a very good performance from Redcar against a team struggling near the bottom of the league, who to be fair to them never gave up and were unlucky not to win, but got 2 valuable points, which might help them from relegation in the last remaining games.