Winlaton Vulcans RFC

Winlaton Vulcans 17 vs 3 Whitley Bay Rockcliffe

Winlaton Vulcans celebrated a win against long time rivals Rockcliffe, both sides were unable to field full strength line ups but true to form it turned out to be an unattractive midtable battle that hardly set the hearts racing.

Hopes were high that an entertaining game would take place as the club had over 70 former players as guests for the day and a good game was needed to set the festivities on the way. Winlaton started the game playing up the hill and most of the game was played in between the two 22’s with little to set the hearts racing. The only moment of note in the first half was when the referee allowed a penalty kick by the home No 10 to be charged down conversion style and didn’t allow it to be retaken, as the kick was relatively in front of the posts and 20 metres out it denied Gary Allison the opportunity to open the scoring and the half ended 0-0. It did however offer a moment of humour from both sets of supporters and the usual regailing of ‘it never happened in our day’ from the assembled throng of former players.

The second half could not have been so bad and with the Vulcans having the advantage of the hill in the second half most supporters were expecting a home win. So unsurpisingly Rockcliffe took the lead when an infringement on the floor gave them the chance of 3 pts which they took, 0-3.

Winlaton responded almost immediately with a levelling kick from a similar offence and then took the lead when Fly Half Gary Allison, who has had to move back to the No10 berth from Hooker to replace his younger brother, scored a crash over try which he duly converted.

Both sides made changes but the Rockcliffe pack were seriously outgunned and struggled to win any ball of note, after losing a series of scrums Winlaton spun the ball wide and after a miss move Gary Allison looped round to appear on the wing and finish the move by diving over in the corner and then hit a superb conversion from the touchline to seal a 17 – 3 win.