For the second week Aycliffe found themselves at Hartlepool, this time facing league new boys West Hartlepool TDSOB. After last week’s solid performance, Aycliffe’s pack was bolstered by the return of Liam Kelly, Mark Affleck, Bob Malvern and John Whitehouse.
The weather conditions and the pitch were perfectly suited to Aycliffe and they started off in fine fashion, with James Thacker scoring the first of his four tries in the first 5 minutes of the game. his try was converted by Nicholas Coates making his debut for the club at Scrum Half. Aycliffe continued to crank up the pressure with Luke Tinkler making an excellent break, passing to Adam Gascoigne who was brought down just short of the line, however with the TDSOB defender unable to keep hold Adam fought back to his feet to dive over the line.
TDSOB tried to play some of the forward dominated rugby they are known for, making a number of pick and drives around the base of the rucks. Aycliffe defended excellently with John Whitehouse making a number of fantastic tackles. However, something had to give and TDSOB managed to drive over the line from a tap penalty.
Newton Aycliffe were disappointed that they had given up a try and began to take the game to TDSOB. Luke Crossen scored an incredible try, smashing through a number of opposition players as he ran 40 yards to cross the line. Now the flood gates began to open, with James Thacker and Adam Gascoigne both adding brilliant tries to their tally. Just before half time David Judge scored a fantastic individual try, slicing through the TDSOB defence, before sidestepping the fullback to score under the posts. Nick Coates added 5 conversions to make half time score 40 – 5.
The second half saw Niall Kelly replaced by Jeff Hodgson at second row. Aycliffe continued where they had left off, with James Thacker chipping over the top, he then somehow managed to catch the ball around his ankles before scoring under the posts. The next try came from three forwards looking lost in the backline. The ball was passed to Liam Kelly who made a break down field before offloading out the back of his hand to Mark Affleck who continued the charge forward. Mark Affleck then passed beautifully to John Whitehouse who, after throwing a sensational dummy, scored his first try for Aycliffe.
It was time for a couple of changes with Adam Batley making his debut for the 1st XV at tight head and Matthew Wiper returning from injury at open side. Hard work from the TDSOB forwards was repaid by a consolation drive over try.
It was now the turn of Captain Andrew Littlefair to add to the scoring, driving over the line to score in the bottom corner. This was followed up by an excellent try from Luke Tinkler. A final substitution saw Chris Richards, finally back from Canada, making his first start. He quickly made an impact on the game scoring with one of his first touches of the ball. The second half rout was then fittingly rounded off by another James Thacker try after he was given an easy run in from a beautiful break by Gareth Parsonage. Final score 74-12. Next Saturday Aycliffe host title rivals Sedgefield who also have yet to lose a league game this season. Ko 3pm.