Redcar made the longest, and arguably worst journey of the season as they travelled to play Ashington. This was very clear in the first 20 minutes of the game as Redcar struggled to handle the early barrage. Ash's big forwards set the tone, their front 5 dominated the scrums while their back row made some storming runs, breaking tackles and playing behind Redcar’s defence, this left all the space for their backs when needed to finish the points putting Ash 19-0 up within 20 mins. Redcar then finally found their footing, a strong defensive set saw a loose ball picked up by debutant AJ Clark who made 40m up the pitch, he was supported well by Brad Smith & Luke Watson and after a couple passes between themselves Luke got over the line. 19-5. This kicked Ash back into gear and their forwards once again got on the front foot to pick up another 2 tries.
Halftime Ashington 29 Redcar 5
Redcar came out the second half a different team, they set the tone early in defence and a well worked ball out wide saw Sam Watkins made some metres before a pass back inside to Caleb Kasonali to score, 29-10. This shook Ash and Redcar’s confidence grew, their defence now stood solid and with ball in hand moved it well around the park finding metres and the edges. Joe Hudson was next to score for Redcar when a 5m lineout was worked well and played off the top, the ball found it's way to Brad Smith who put an ambitious, and audacious grubber behind the Ash defence to be collected and scored. 29-15. Redcar continued to press while holding strong, they came close on a few occasions to get the much needed 4th try and really put the pressure on Ash. Ash were to have the last score when a couple penalties saw them in Redcar’s 5m. Their forwards then took charge again with some pick and go carries before the ball was moved wide for the winger to score.
Final score Ashington 34 Redcar 15.
This was a valuable lesson for a young Redcar squad and should be a confidence builder against a much bigger, physical and experienced side. Only 6 players in the match day squad was over the age of 21 which is a massive boost and look to the future of senior rugby. Redcar deserved the 4th try and felt they could have pushed Ashington for the win if chances had been taken. A huge congratulations and well done to AJ Clarke who made his senior debut and put on a display to be proud of.
Thanks to Damian Buck for this report.