Newton Aycliffe Rugby Club 2nd XV recorded a big victory when they hosted Sunderland 3rd XV at Moore Lane. The largest turnout of the season saw the team field 20 players, despite the 1st team taking a full squad to Richmondshire.
Darrell McLaren returned for his first game after injury and Peter Steed was another to don the colours. Sunderland also had a number of replacements for the game, played on a heavy pitch after a week of rain.
Aycliffe began by getting deep into opposition territory with some excellent attacking play with numerous offloads. JJ Rudge opened the scoring with a try; Dave Gibson added the conversion. Another try followed soon after with Michael Welsh scoring from 30 metres out. The Sunderland pack had the edge in the scrums, but Aycliffe were on top in the rucks and a third try was scored after Gibson shredded the defence and released Mark Wilson to go in under the posts; this time it was Tommy Cooper with the afters. The visitors retaliated when a rush of blood to the head saw Andrew Parkin take a quick line-out straight to the Sunderland winger who scored a try that was converted. Aycliffe finished the half with tries from Rudge and Connor Blakey with a further conversion from Cooper. At the break, it was 34 – 7 to Aycliffe.
Aycliffe brought replacements into the back line for the second half, but this did not affect their dominance. One of the new men, McLaren soon scored another try and Welsh added a second when he took a pass intended for Andrew Tonkin to score under the posts with Cooper again converting. Gibson added a try that was converted by Deryk Cairns: his first points of the season. Second tries from McLaren and Wilson saw Aycliffe 60 – 7 ahead. At this point, at the request of the visiting captain, the referee blew for full time with 15 minutes still on the clock. This was probably the best performance of the season from Aycliffe.
Aycliffe rugby are sponsored by Emre’s Barbershop and The Mortgage Advice Centre.