Barnard Castle kicked off with the wind behind them. Redcar went straight on the attack and after some good interplay between backs and forwards they got to the Barny line and almost scored but didn’t, Barny then took the play to Redcar’s line and on 6 mins did score, 0 - 5. Redcar fought back and 2 mins later second row Steve Johnson levelled the score, 5 - 5. Then for the rest of the half Redcar seemed to make every mistake in the book, gifting Barny with tries. Barny were constantly penalised but Redcar kept kicking for position and lineouts, but could not capitalise on their advantage and lost all the lineouts. Barny scored 4 tries, on 12 mins, 5 -12, on 22 mins 5 - 17, on 33 mins 5 - 24 and on 38 mins 5 - 29.

Half Time Redcar 5 Barnard Castle 29

Redcar restarted the game and 2 mins later Danny Addison kicked a penalty from in front of the posts, 8 - 29 and this started Redcar’s comeback. On 55 mins No.8 Brad Smith scored after some good driving play, Danny Addison converted the try, 15 - 29. Barny were still giving away penalties, for offside and holding on at the ruck, but Redcar opted to take tap kicks and forward drives to put Barny under pressure. On 59 mins after some good play from winger Luke Watson and the half backs, the forwards Matty Regan and Marc Smith drove towards the line and Brad Smith crashed over for his second try, 22 - 29. This shook Barny and on 63 mins they opted for a penalty kick as the score was getting a bit close for comfort, 22 - 32. Then on 72 mins the ref finally had enough of Barny’s constant penalties and gave a yellow card followed by another in quick succession, with Barny down to 13 players and time running out, Redcar took a quick tap and Marc Smith again charged forward and when stopped, from the maul Brad Smith picked up the ball and dived over to score his hat-trick try and thus securing two losing bonus points, one for the forth try and one for finishing within 7 points of Barny’s total.
Final Score Redcar 29 Barnard Castle 32