Westoe v Harrogate postponed
Jan
A postponement double whammy on Saturday caused dismay and a few ruffled feathers at Wood Terrace.
For the second successive year Westoe’s first XV squad were about to board the coach when word came that their National 2 North clash at Harrogate had been called off.
A referee had ruled that the frozen and rutted pitch at Claro Road was too dangerous.
Club chairman Duncan Murray was prepared to make the trip in the hope that conditions may have improved by the afternoon.
“But they were adamant that the game was off and that was that”, he said. “They obviously did not want to play as much as we did. It was all very disappointing.”
And confusion at Middlesbrough meant that a second team friendly match had been organized when they should have travelled to Westoe for a rearranged Candy League game.
Westoe’s fixtures secretary David McNulty said: “I explained that a league game should take priority but they would not budge. It was a very strange decision to take.”
Main attention was focused on visitors Fylde’s emphatic 32-8 win at Leicester Lions which strengthened their lead at the top of the table and meant their hosts remain two points behind third-placed Westoe, both having now played 16 matches.
Second top Loughborough Students’ visit to Kendal was also a victim of the sub-zero temperatures..
The big freeze in December meant that Dunes Adventure Island Westoe’s fixtures against Luctonians, Loughborough and Hull Ionians were postponed and have been rearranged for the only three remaining vacant Saturdays.
This fourth one means that already the season must be extended and, with the winter just half over, who knows what further disruption there will be.
A major consolation is that all have been games away from home, so not exacerbating problems that already exist caused by a fixtures overlap with South Shields Cricket Club which shares the ground.
The league programme, previously 26 games, was extended by a further four last season which was newly-promoted Westoe‘s first at National level.
Captain Gareth Nesbit declared: “That is the problem. Thirty games are just too many and it is something which needs to be addressed by the RFU.”
Four games were also cancelled because of Arctic conditions last year which meant that, with official blessing, the last and inconsequential game at Preston Grasshoppers was scrapped.
Said Nes: “Whoever decided that clubs could cope with so many fixtures just didn’t have a grasp of the reality of things. You can’t just leave three Saturdays free and hope for the best.”
He added: “The lads were really up for the trip to Harrogate and the pity is that I was confident we had the team to come away with a win.”
*A bright note was the Colts’ 17-0 win in their Under-18 League game on Harton Technical Collage’s all-weather pitch against Morpeth, whose own ground where it should have been staged was unplayable.
In a fast and entertaining clash, tries were scored by prop Kane Robson, centre Joe McKenzie and flanker Callum McGuigan with fly half Jordan Carey kicking a conversion.
