Northern Panthers 10 - 21 West End
A hastily arranged friendly trip to Northern Panthers with West End coming away with a well-deserved W.
High availability meant the club had some options in the backs with Harry Eglon deputising at inside centre and Harvey Thompson back on the wing.
It all started with West End acting the quickest when the new set of backs worked as a unit to get the ball out wide to Harvey Thompson who comfortably slotted it in the corner in the first few minutes. Marty then showed why practice makes perfect after he kicked the added two points nicely. West End then showed how their extra midweek training session paid off to play in the lineouts where they drove the Panthers back for the backs to take control and attack. Northern then slotted one past themselves when a fully throttled back who looked like a forward stormed through the right wing to place it in the corner, nothing west could have done to stop him.
West End were in bother when the panthers backs broke away but as there fast paced full back got close Ewan Pritchard hit him hard with a try saving tackle and the ball was then passed forward by Northern close to the line. Northern Panthers then kicked the ball through the posts to make there score 10-7.
The second half came and west end entered the huddle with a furious coach who deservedly put them right before they went into the second half. Changes were made at half time with McGrann, Henderson and Kay being withdrawn for Douglass, Gardiner and Seddon. These changes paid off when West End attacked in Northern half for nearly 20 minutes with the forwards communicating superbly using the black ball and edging closer to the line every time, unfortunately the rain had started and the ball was even harder to handle, soon came the handling errors which give west end a setback.
In a bizarre 30 seconds two West End players were forced off with injuries, Venters with a knee injury and Marra with drawn with what was later revealed as a broken leg. The subs soon made an impact when they battered the shaken up defence of northern by making multiple pods of forwards.
The backs then had to make changes to see what they had for the upcoming plate final when Ali Thornton went and played full back, Marty McHugh went 10 and Jacob Foy went in at scrum half. The backs then were crashing into the opposite backs with Harry driving his way through players. Foy had the chance to pop it off to Pritchard who beat his man on the wing but was flattened by the speedy full back in to touch. Still dazed and confused, Pritchard then was caught holding onto the ball and getting a warning off the referee.
Once again, the forwards dominated when Dean Henderson was well supported by his fellow forwards to get near the line but was held up, which then left space for Foy to pass it out to the backs who used switches to get it out to Harvey who scored his second try of the game. Another great bit of play then came from Pritchard who tackled his opposite number, got back to his feet and rucked for the ball with a penalty awarded by the referee in favour of West End. A number of penalties were awarded in the 2nd half for West End with the referee eventually yellow carding a Northern player and another receiving a red.
Then John McGrann came back on for Gardiner due to a head injury and himself and Adam Healy worked once again in partnership smashing into the forwards giving Jordi O’Neill the hype to kick the ball up field and then got very tired chasing it. A great thing to do as it gave West End the time to reline their defence. West End then started losing their heads despite improving with this area, a new captain came in place with vice-vice-captain Marty McHugh bringing in the team for a word but it was a mixture of anger and love pulling the heartstrings of West End and driving them to a win. Up next is a County Plate Final at Gosforth RFC against Medicals Serpents.
Tries
Thompson (2), Foy (1)
Conversions
Marty McHugh (3)
Squad
1 Hosking
2 Rowan
3 Henderson
4 O’Neill
5 Healy
6 McGrann
7 Foy
8 Venters
9 Kay
10 Thornton
11 Hutchinson
12 Eglon
13 Marra
14 Pritchard
15 McHugh
Subs: Seddon, Livingstone, Gardiner, Douglass
