Westoe report on league and 7s rugby
May
WESTOE’S slender promotion hopes suffered a blow at the weekend writes Clive Crickmer.
While they were without a fixture, Loughborough Students took a stride towards securing the play-off runners-up spot in National 2 North with a 30-6 victory at Kendal.
They were, however, only able to run in three tries because of the hosts’ determined defensive play and so missed out on a bonus point.
The Students must now be regarded firm favourites in the gripping three-horse race with Westoe and Leicester Lions for a showdown with Jersey for a place in National One.
The only certainty is that this hard-fought tussle will not be resolved until the last day of the season in a fortnight’s time when the Dunes Adventure Island-sponsored Shieldsmen travel to Loughborough and the Lions face hosts Huddersfield.
In the absence of any game Des White invited Gareth Nesbit, Graeme & David Haswell to play in an invitational game down at Hereford army camp a game that their side won.
A full preview on Westoe’s crucial clash at Harrogate on Saturday will be in Friday’s Gazette.
Meanwhile with the Rugby 7s season being now with us Westoe have entered teams into various tournaments.
A newly-formed rugby sevens side comprising mainly of Westoe players and calling themselves the Batmen have got off to a flying start.
Captained by Gareth Kerr and coached by Newcastle Falcons’ Mickey Young, they won the prestigious Longhirst 7s tournament at Morpeth in style on the weekend of May 1st, comfortably winning four ties to reach the final against Mowden Park.
And they proved too skilful and sharp for the Darlington outfit, Scott Jordan scoring a hat-trick of tries and his Westoe team mates Graeme Haswell, Tommy Banks and Chris Clark also going over while just two tries were conceded.
Experienced Shieldsmen David Haswell, James Clark and Des White were also in the squad but it was a Wood Terrace Colt, Mark McMahon, who was voted player of the tournament.
The Batmen are an invitation side which winger Kerr, who has played a leading role in Westoe’s success this season, hopes will make a major impact on the sevens scene.
They hope to compete in the Edinburgh tournament this month with the same squad which included brothers Adam and Matt Dehaty, ex-Falcons Academy and Blaydon.
Another Westoe team entered the Durham City 7s this weekend coming away as eventual winners.
During the early part of the tournament they won all of their group games against Durham Uni A side, Queens Campus (Durham Uni), Grey College (Durham Uni) and Durham City.
In the final they overcame The 7 Deadly Sins (Invitational side) 31-24 to lift the trophy.
The squad on the day was Craig Olugbode, Chris Laycock, Derek Chatt, Scott Jordan, Richard Burrows and Liam Moffat, all from Westoe, along with Sean Bellon and Tom Townend from Sunderland RFC, George Carpenter (Unattached) and Charlie Amesbury and Tim Ryan from the Newcastle Falcons.
Scott Jordan was top try scorer for us on the day with 8 tries.
