3TM Away to Horden

Firstly I will get the rant out of the way, It's easy to report on wins and everything going right, not so easy when controversial points need to be raised as is the case today.
When a player/s have given availability to a team that player also needs to let the management know if anything changes regarding that, be it injury, work or as was the case being selected for a higher level team, yes it's great for the individual to move up however if the the original team is not informed then it can leave them short handed as was the case this afternoon. Communication needs to be improved across the board.
With that out of the way we managed to scrape together 16 fit players to make the journey and the mood was upbeat for the 1st game of the new year. At kick off a decision was made to play down the slope 1st half with the thinking we would be able to put the points on the board and hold out up the slope in the 2nd half against a hopefully tiring Horden 3rd team. In hindsight possibly this was a wrong decision as we found out that shortly before kick off their 2nd team game had been called off and the the home team had enough for changes in every position on the sideline.
From the kick off it was a battle up front with the 2 large packs matching each other both in the tight and the loose. Neither team had threatened within the first 10 minutes however it was then that the Billingham back line got their first serious possession, the ball was moved quickly from Rumis at 10 making his senior team debut through Elgie , Donaldson and to the flying Mallam on the wing who was free, however the final pass had harshly been adjudged forward and the play was hauled back.
Shortly after the home team were pinged for killing the ball wide and the call was made to kick for posts but this was pulled wide.
from the drop out Billingham took control wide right and again fast ball through hands found Donaldson breaking the tackle and faced with the last defender found Naz joining the line from full back to go in for the score. The kick was unfortunate to hit the join of the bar and the upright and come back out.
Again it became a battle upfront with neither team giving an inch until Billingham were pinged in front of the posts with the home team slotting the penalty to reduce the lead to 2.
As the half wore on Billingham had all the territory and possession however far to many unforced handling errors meant they were unable to add to the score.
10 minutes left of the half and Billingham pressure found the Horden defence going off their feet, killing the ball while on their own try line, the ref blew and the yellow was shown to the offender, the ref had later admitted this should have also resulted in a penalty try however it wasn't given at the time and again after handling errors Horden were able to clear their lines and hold out for the remainder of the half.
Half time Horden 3 - 5 3TM
Into the 2nd half and as expected numerous changes were made to the home team, freshening up both forward and back lines and from here it was more than just the slope which was an uphill battle, Horden now had the advantage in the scrum driving us back at will and it wasn't long until the score was added via a converted try 10 - 5. To their full credit Billingham continued to take the game, lead by captain Chris Surtees taking carry after carry and recycling the ball, unfortunately though handling errors continued to cost as every time the ball was turned over a long boot sent us back into our own 22 to start again. It was from one of these long boots and a good chase which forced Mallam to take the ball over and touch down in his own try area. From the resulting 5m scrum Horden went blind and although there were calls of foul play the ball was touched down to extend the lead 15 - 5. This had caused a few of the Billingham players to lose their cool and both childs and Churlish were Binned for Dissent.
Many teams would now crack and the floodgates open however Billingham stood firm and did not allow any further score.
The last 5 minutes and a series of forward phases had seen Billingham drive within a couple of minutes, this was finished with the returning Phil Kelsey crashing over and with Elgie adding the 2 the deficit was down to 3 with a couple of minutes to play. from the kick off Billingham took the ball through the backs and wide to Mallam who thought he had cleared the last defender however had just run out of space breaking the tackle and as he strayed into touch the whistle for time was blew.

A very tough game against the majority of a 2nd team and numerous replacements, heads held high and on another day with the same teams then the W would still of been ours,

Final score Horden 15 - 12 Billingham 3TM
Tries N.Renwick , P.Kelsey
Conv B.Elgie
M.O.M for great composure on his first senior appearance Jonny Rumis