Newton Aycliffe RUFC travelled through the beautiful Northumbrian countryside on a J&C coach to visit Prudhoe and Stocksfield Rugby Club. The weather was sunny with a really strong cross field wind and the pitch was dry with plenty of grass but had a rather prominent slope. The referee for the game was from Surrey and was visiting the area for a wedding do. He was, luckily for both sides, a quality referee but was some what at times bemused by the coarse art of northern rugby.
Aycliffe fielded a strong side which the return to action after a longish layoff of Andy Littlefair. Aycliffe started badly to say the least; a speculative kick by the hosts into the visitors 22 saw panic from an Aycliffe defender who whilst under pressure flicked the ball into space to allow the speedy Prudhoe winger to catch the ball unopposed to cross the line; fortunately the conversion was missed. 5 – 0 down after a few minutes was not what Peter Ryans (head coach) and the travelling support wanted or expected to see.
Thankfully the lads got their act together and fought their way back into the game using the slope to their advantage with veteran fly half Darryl Pettit put one or two telling kicks into P&S half. Resulting line outs saw second row, Neil Morgan, dominate both his and the opposition’s ball. Through this quality possession, the backs were able to run at the home teams defence and cause havoc in the midfield.
The forwards, led by Deryk Cairns and Richie Littlefair, began to dominate the breakdown. The pressure applied at the ruck area by Aycliffe resulted in penalty after penalty close to the home side’s line. Something had to give and, after great work from both the forwards and the backs, Chris Richards scored a try.
Luke Tinkler playing at fullback missed the following conversion but a short while later kicked a longish penalty for Aycliffe to lead 5-8. After this the home side were unable to legally prevent Aycliffe from winning masses of ball which resulted in a number of penalties.
Captain Warren Parsonage decided to run everything. Mikey Dunn, making up for his earlier defensive failings, went on to cross the line twice after more excellent forward and back handling moves. The half time score was 5 – 20.
The second half saw Aycliffe, playing up hill, stifle all of the home side’s attacks with a really strong defensive performance. Aycliffe’s back row of Cairns, Andy Littlefair and Drew Gibson tackled extremely well and disrupted P&S possession.
The front five’s scrummaging was really solid and, despite playing with a sore head due to a severe cut from a previous game, Jeff  Hodgson helped dominate this area of the game. The second half was drifting into a stalemate until the last fifteen minutes; with Aycliffe down to 14 men due to a sin binning, the hosts crossed the line and the converted try made the score 12 – 20.
Further sin-bins saw 14 men of Prudhoe facing 12 of Aycliffe for the last 7 minutes of the match. Aycliffe however held firm despite terrific pressure from the home side and the game finished with a 20 – 12 victory for the travelling team. In conclusion Aycliffe dominated this game in every aspect – a really good performance.
On 1st November, Aycliffe host Richmondshire at Moore Lane; kick-off 2.15pm. Aycliffe rugby is sponsored by WHITEHOUSE FUNERAL SERVICES and S CARS.