Saturday the 24th of September saw Aycliffe 1st XV play their first home fixture of the season against the recently descended Houghton Le Spring 1st team. Given Houghton’s reputation for hard running and a scavenging backrow, it was set to be a physical and taxing encounter. With this in mind, Aycliffe fielded a strong squad, including excellent first team league debuts for Dan Bland and Jon McGuigan. The match saw the first ever Aycliffe Rugby Club mascot, as young William Whitehouse lead the team on to the pitch with captain Alex Lineton. Conditions were good, and following an intense warm up, Aycliffe were ready for the challenge ahead. The game began with an Aycliffe kick off which was followed by a tough fifteen-minute period as both sides fought hard to gain the ascendency. On sixteen minutes, Aycliffe took the lead as influential winger James Thacker crashed the ball through the Houghton on one of his trademark storming runs, crossing for the first try of the game. Houghton soon fought back and feeding off Aycliffe mistakes at the breakdown, registered two penalties in quick succession to take them into a one-point lead. Knowing they had to work harder to stay in the game, the forward pack kept the ball in tight, and following some excellent work around the fringes, flanker Andy Tonkin crossed the whitewash, which was converted by Captain Alex Lineton, putting Aycliffe six points to the good. Haughton soon replied with pressure on the Aycliffe defence, which held firm, but gave away a penalty which the Houghton ten drove between the uprights to bring the visitors within three points. Half time score Aycliffe 12-9 Houghton. The second half commenced with Aycliffe receiving the kick, which was taken by powerful loosehead Dan Peck, who slammed into the Haughton defensive line and set a clean platform for the next phase. The forwards continued to work hard in close, moving the ball wider with the support of a backline unafraid of taking the ball into contact. This pressure from one to fifteen began to tell as some of the Houghton pack began to lose their cool, with allegations of chokes in the ruck and punches at the breakdown coming to the referee via Aycliffe’s Captain. With the referee looking out for foul play, Aycliffe continued with their seemingly inexorable drive toward the line, and several unforgiving phases were rewarded as Aycliffe eight Andy Littlefair dove over the whitewash out wide to take the home side out of reach of a converted try. There was no room for complacency however, and Aycliffe reapplied the pressure from the restart, further frustrating the Houghton back row who were unable to get near the ball, and gave a penalty for side entry. Aycliffe pragmatically decided to kick with Lineton sending the ball over to take Aycliffe to twenty. Again Aycliffe came hard at Houghton from the restart, with physical phases and one-out ball resulting in winger Thacker again spotting his opportunity and charging over the line. Despite a yellow card for impactful openside Tonkin, the game seemed out of sight for Houghton. Not content to sit back on their laurels, Aycliffe continued as they had all game, hammering at the Houghton line and sucking in defenders which allowed them to release debutant Jon McGuigan who touched down out wide with minutes to go. The game finished with a total of five tries run in by Aycliffe with the backs taking three to the forwards two. Tries came from James Thacker (2), Andy Tonkin, Andrew Littlefair and Jon McGuigan. Three of the tries and one penalty were converted by Alex Lineton. The Final score 32-9 to Aycliffe. Thank you to all our Match Day Sponsor, Whitehouse Funeral Services.