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Rugby Union: Crossleyans hold on to secure victory
Darlington 31 - Old Crossleyans 32 Old Crossleyans held on to win by the narrowest of margins in a pulsating contest of end to end running rugby.
Crossleyans were never headed, their creative attacking back play giving them the edge over Darlington's power pack.
Crocs could not have had a better start when from the kick off, Darlington knocked on and from the ensuing scrum, fly half Gareth Ott fed inside centre Neil Richardson, and Ott then ran round Richardson on a dummy run, the centre shooting under the posts after three minutes of play.
Within minutes No 8 Ryan Hammond broke through to touch down at the sticks for another easy conversion by scrum half Ed Cockroft.
Chris Jones was held up just short and then wing James Wainwright was pulled up for a forward pass.
Darlington's only reply was a penalty on 20 minutes by wing Danny Anderson, immediately followed by one from Ed Cockcroft and then another by Anderson all in the space of five minutes to bring the score to 6-17.
Darlington began to assert themselves and from a scrum in midfield Darlington's back row crashed over at the posts.
Crocs were stung into action bundling the Darlington forwards into touch from the restart and from the line-out Hammond stormed through to the 22 metre line. From the scrum Darlington's kick upfield was caught by full back Chris Seymour whose crossfield run set up James Wainwright coming in from the opposite wing and he cut through and the ball went via Ed Cockroft and Gareth Ott to wing Joe Baker who out-paced the full back to score in the corner, Cockroft converting from the touchline.
Darlington forward pressure told when a driving maul resulted in a try wide out for Anderson to make a crucial conversion to haul his team back into contention to 20-24.
Crossleyans returned to attack and Cockroft's 40 metre penalty made the score 20-27.
Darlington's high kick upfield was returned with a 50 metre touch finder by Seymour to the home 22 metre. Crocs won the line out and fly half Ott's long cut-out pass to outside centre Jones gave him space to make a half-break and his inside off-load to supporting wing Wainwright allowed him to cut through and using Seymour as a foil, he rounded the full back to score out wide to give the visitors a 20-32 half time lead.
Darlington's already mountainous pack was supplemented for the second period by prop David Tunstead whose impact was immediate in a forward rush through midfield to cross the line, the ball was then spun out wide for a Darlington try in the corner to pull them back to 25-32.
The visitors withstood sustained pressure on their own line with excellent tackling but conceded an offside penalty under the sticks which Anderson just got over.
From the restart Crocs mounted a wing attack by Chris Jones supported by Ed Cockroft but were replled although gaining an offside penalty award on 30 metres but Cockroft was wide.
Jones’s long kick out of defence was returned by Darlington’s three quarters who won a penalty for offside 40 metres out but the kick as just wide and Crocs four point lead remained.
From the Crocs restart Darlington’s No 10 David Richardson tried an ambitious drop goal which went wide of the mark
Crocs attacked from a midfield scrum when Neil Richadson broke through and fed Jones but to no avail.
With 15 minutes to play Arnie Palmer's neck problem gave way to sub Richard Thomas who was straight into the fray against the home giant props. Darlington drove upfield and Crocs were penalised on their own 22 metre for Anderson to kick his team to 31-32 behind.
Jones’s restart took the visitors downfield where they won a penalty 30 metres out Cockroft’s kick going just wide.
The visitors maintained field position in the home half with constant probing runs but the defence held and a final powerful forward grind by the Crocs pack ran down the clock for a deserved victory.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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