Morpeth 37 – Doncaster Demons 7
On Sunday 19th November the Demons made a three and a half hour journey north to play Morpeth for their second league game of the season. Injuries from the previous game left the Demons with a squad of 12, opting to play 10’s with 2 subs.
With the Demons winning the toss Captain Lara Croft decided to play up hill in the first half, hoping that the down hill advantage would benefit the team in the second half as fatigue set in.
Unfortunately the game plan didn’t go the Demons’ way and it was a lightening quick Morpeth winger on a break away who opened up the score on the 5 minute mark.
From the restart Morpeth received the ball well and advanced towards the Demons’ defense. The Demons tried to regain possession in the ruck but were penalised for coming in from the side. Morpeth used the penalty to run at the Demons who were on the back foot. Good recycling and an overlap led to Morpeth scoring a second try despite a tremendous effort from Lara Croft to hold the ball up.
With Morpeth retaining possession from the kick the Demons were putting in more effort to stop Morpeth in their tracks however the weight in the Morpeth squad out matched the Demons. It was taking two Demons to bring down one Morpeth player which led to many Demons being tied up in the rucks leaving Morpeth with another overlap. Becki managed to catch the lightening winger, however with a 2 man overlap the try was inevitable.
Ten minutes into the game and 15-0 down the Demons fly half Psycho managed to obtain possession of the ball, side stepped a couple of defenders and made an advance up the wing only to be brought down 5 meters from the line by the covering full back. The ball was recycled by Lara Croft however, isolated and under pressure, opted for the kick. Luckily Morpeth knocked on whilst trying to regain possession. With Morpeth having the weight advantage in the scrum possession was lost and the Demons were up flat and ready to defend. As the ball was recycled from the rucks by Morpeth and passed down the line Tigger managed to intercept a pass. Unfortunately she thought she was off side and gifted the ball back to Morpeth. This made the Demons more determined to regain possession in the next break down. With the Demons back in possession the ball went smoothly down the hands of the back line to Becki on the wing who took the contact and placed the ball back for Heather to pick up and drive the Morpeth defense back. Unfortunately the ball was ripped from the Demons and shipped down the hands. Zoe quickly got up in the faces of the Morpeth back line and put in two awesome tackles to put the pressure and forced Morpeth to kick. The loose ball was secured by Trump who put her head down and ran straight back at a quickly formed defensive line. The ball was recycled and passed out to the advancing backs. This pressure from the Demons caused Morpeth to make several infringements such as high tackles and tackling players off the ball. Eventually the ref awarded a penalty to the Demons which was quickly taken by Caz who made several yards. Again the Demons lost possession in a ruck, and with too many players tied in Morpeth had another overlap. Beanie put in everything to chase down the winger but was out paced as the winger slid in for the try under the posts. This provided the Morpeth fly half with an easy conversion making the half time score 22-0
From the restart Morpeth were on the attack trying to use their winger to slip round the Demons’ defense. This time on guard the Demons managed to drive the winger into to touch. It was Morpeth who made the early errors knocking the ball on in the line out, however Tigger managed to secure the ball quickly and the ref played advantage. This was short lived as the ball was knocked on in a tackle and Morpeth were back in possession. Katie was in first to put the pressure on Morpeth but the winger was on hand to take advantage of the situation and put another try on the board.
From the restart Morpeth ran straight into the Demons forwards who put then under tremendous pressure causing them to knock the ball on in the tackles. Lara Croft quickly secured the ball and popped it up to Psycho. As Lara Croft got up to loop round in support she was tackled from behind and the ref awarded another penalty against Morpeth for tackling off the ball. Psycho popped the ball to an advancing Tigger looped round to take the off load and advanced a few yards with Beanie in support who was eventually taken into touch by the covering defense. The line out was won by Morpeth who got the ball down the back line. Lara Croft went in to tackle the winger but slipped in the mud and didn’t quite manage to knock her in to touch. Another try for Morpeth brought the score to 32-0
From the restart Morpeth continued to put the pressure on advancing toward the try line. The Demons managed to dig deep and drive an advancing maul into touch. The Demons won the line out and kicked the ball up field to give themselves space. Becki managed to outpace Morpeth to the ball. However being isolated the ball was quickly turned over and Morpeth drove the ball over the line only to be held up by the Demons’ defense. The scrum was won by Morpeth who again were refused the try as they knocked on as they drove over the line. The Demons retained possession from the scrum and the ball was kicked down field and chased by Psycho. Morpeth tried to run the ball back at the Demons but good defense and increased pressure saw the Demons back in possession and Rabbit advancing with the ball. A quick off load to Psycho in the tackle and some fancy footwork enable her to open up the scoring for the Demons. Psycho converted her own try to make the score 32-7
From the restart the Demons knocked on which resulted in Morpeth winning their own scrum and getting the ball down the hands to the winger who just managed to evade Becki to score in the corner.
At the restart the Demons applied pressure to force Morpeth into making errors to gain possession in the closing stages of the game. Sticky gained possession of the ball at a ruck a crashed through the Morpeth defense to gain ground. As the ball went down the back line the Demons were driven into touch. As Morpeth won their line out and shipped the ball out to the backs Zoe and Trump went in for the tackle and clashed heads. Morpeth took advantage of the open space to make a break away and looked certain of and 8th try as the ref blew the whistle for safety reasons. With less than a minute on the clock the ref called time with a final score of Morpeth 37 Demons 7.
Zoe and Trump’s injuries were superficial and both Demons should be fit for the next match on Sunday 10th December at Darlington ko 2pm. The match against the Novocastrians at home on the 26th November had to be cancelled due to the Novocastrians not being able to field a team.
Captain’s Demon of the game: Psycho
Player’s Demon of the game: Zoe
Next Match: Sunday 10th December at Darlington ko 2pm |
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