With a squad of 25 to choose from things were looking promising for the Hippos, however a combination of illness, work commitments and a freezing cold Friday night, we arrived at the club with only 18 players.
Hartlepool had struggled to get a side together but managed to turn up with 16 eventually so all was set for a good night.
Last season the Friars turned the Hippos over at Mayfield Park so the lads were determined not to have a repeat performance.
With the Friars being a mixed side, combining Veterans and occasional players ie. young lads we took the opportunity to blood a couple of underage lads so guesting for the Hippos were Ste Hutch and AJ Amos, who both qualify to play officially within a couple of years. They were in good hands though, with club legend (and AJ's father in law) Barry McGrath skippering the side in his first competitive game for a while.
A decent crowd, considering the cold saw Hartlepool kick off on the AGP and it wasn't long until Mark Coull (man of match v Stockton) was causing problems for the opposition once again. This time though, he was covering in the centre so it made the absence of Chris Hyndman easier to cope with.
The first try wasn't long in coming, Coull breaking the line before popping to Ste Hutch, who showed a surprising amount of gas for a big lad, who then passed back inside to Andy Evans to scamper under the posts. He also converted his own try for a 7-0 lead.
Hutchy was putting himself about, relishing being in the back row after a few years propping, and he soon had the line begging, only to knock on and give possession away.
The forward pack began to exert their dominance and a great driving maul soon paid dividends with MoJo crossing for the second try of the night. The conversion was too much for Evans this time.
The Friars got into the game and had some good pressure in our 22 but failed to convert that pressure into points as the Hippos defence held strong. Then, good work from 1st XV Coach, Brett Wildridge (who was also loving being back out on the field and didn't moan once) in the loose won us possession for Andy Evans to box kick deep into the Hartlepool half. The kick was chased well by Michael 'Fozzy' Foster and after a bit of nimble footwork from him, Coull managed to drop on the ball ahead of the defender to score.
The scores started to flow as the boys kicked into gear and Coull was again wreaking havoc as he rampaged through the centres. As he was halted, he produced a sublime offload to Ste Hutch to race away unopposed under the posts. Hutchy attempted to convert his own try (from under the sticks remember) only to embarrassingly kick it UNDER the crossbar, much to the crowd's delight!!
Next, it was Chris Surtees who caused the damage in their 22 with Bri Dunning finishing the move and converting his own try. Dunning's first was followed immediately by his second, as Coull again burst through to off load to Bri who this time had to run 40 yards to finish off. Obviously tired after that run, Dunning passed the conversion to Richie Morrison who was successful.
Half time - Hippos 36 Friars 0
The second half started with Hartlepool in control, however the Hippos defence stood firm to keep the line intact with big hits flying in by new boy, Amos. It wasn't long however, until Coull was back with ball in hand, this time making a lovely break up field and with only one defender to beat and Andy Evans on his shoulder, the next try was a certainty. Well, it would have been had Coull actually seen Evans. As he didn't and could only see Hutchy racing up 20 yards further to his right, the distance was too much and the pass got nowhere near him giving Hartlepool possession.
It wasn't long until Surtees won a great turnover with the ball going wide for Mikey Stewart to race over for the first score of the half, converted by Duane Revill. Again, one soon became two for Stewart as some nice interplay between Evans and Hutchy worked us up the field with Mikey finishing well.
The Friars then had their best spell of the game, being camped in the Billingham 22 for some time. Unfortunately for them, they came up against some quality defence, with AJ and Mick Sudron in particular putting in some great hits.
Both sides then decided to test each other with some high kicks and the ball was being pinged back and forth. Hutchy, thinking he is a footballer, tried to trap one of these bouncing balls rather than risk knocking on, however much to the crowd's delight, he totally missed it and provided one of several comedy moments of the night.
As the clock was running down and Hartlepool continued to dominate possession, the Hippos managed to win some good lineout ball in their own half and Revill, who was now at 10, managed to find Fozzy running the best line of the night to scythe through the Friars defence and race away, popping to Evans to go over, who for some reason, then gave it to Morrison to score. Missed conversion.
That was the final score of the night and both players and spectators were thankful to retreat to the clubhouse to get warm.
Great credit to Hartlepool, they had a lot of young lads who kept their heads high and played some good rugby and never gave in, despite being on the end of a high score. I think on another night, the score line could easily have been much closer, however on the night the Hippos finished some lovely tries and their defence held firm under extreme pressure at times.
So, it is now 1-1 in games with a decider to come!!!