Once upon a time, in a land of mists and mountains, in the land of our Fathers where Scrabble is played with barely a vowel on the board lived a young man who had a dream. Apart from playing for his country and having a go at professional Rugby league he dreamed of coaching a team capable of becoming the best in the league, to be “King of the coaches”.
On Saturday Gary Pearce took his charges to the new rugby citadel, The Northern Echo Stadium, to take on the challengers who would steal his crown and shatter his dreams. Darlington Mowden Park have dreams of their own and are building a side worthy of gracing their impressive facilities. A battle royal was in prospect.
The Ionians forwards were immediately into action taking the ball up into the hosts 22 but Park won the line-out and launched an attack. They passed the ball across the line and sped down the wing at pace. Chris McTurk finished off an excellent passage of play. All too easy. 5 – 0.
Ionians got hold of the ball from turn over at the kick off and drives from Steve Johnson and Danny Hague put the visitors back deep in the Darlington half but ferocious tackling resulted in lost possession and the Park backs looked to attack from deep once again. This time the Ionians defence were more alert with Jon Steel putting in a good tackle to prevent any further embarrassment.
So, after the opening exchanges the die was cast, pack against backs, pace against power. Ionians tried a piece of invention of their own with a quick line-out, Mike Bateman throwing to Sam Wilson but the opposition winger read the situation and intercepted and much to the relief of the visitors play was brought back for an earlier infringement.
The frenetic start gave way to a period of more orthodox controlled rugby. Ionians again worked their way up into the Park 22 and from a scrum feed Adam Thomas picked up and broke round the blind side, trampled all over the defending wing before passing on to Joe Sanders who was, as ever, in close support. He drove hard for the line to level the score, Chris Reekes was unlucky to see his kick bounce back off the up right.
Darlington had the opportunity to cut the deficit after 20 minutes but were unsuccessful with a penalty attempt. They continued to look dangerous in possession but were starved of it by the visitors. The Ionians forwards enjoyed an abundance of the play and Darlington rocked as I’s rolled and only a determined rear guard kept Ionians out until the final minute of the half. A series of drives stretched the Park defence until one final surge from Jonno, aggression personified, finally breached the line for a decisive try. Chris Reekes converted to take us to Oranges.
DMP started the second half like a train, shunting Ionians back in the tackle and rucking aggressively to push the visitors back towards their own line, they interspersed the forward effort with some towering Gary Owens only to find full back Bateman up to the task as he gathered cleanly and countered with some splendid running.
Order was soon restored with I’s camped on the hosts 5m line, stolen ball and a drive from the pack ended with a try for Kerry Wood, goaled again by Reekes , to establish an 18 – 5 lead. With confidence lifted Bateman and wing men Wilson and Steel each made breaks to keep DMP on the back foot. The pressure was rewarded with a penalty and Reekes stretched the lead to 22 – 5. Park showed how dangerous they could be with an incisive counter attack and Ionians were indebted to Ruggy Thomas who showed considerable bravery to drop on the ball as the Park back row bore down on him, chasing up an astute kick through from scrum half McGiffin. Ionians were penalised for handling in the resulting ruck and Cannon pulled three points back with a penalty goal.
Mike Bateman was again subjected to examination under the high ball, he passed the test but a late follow up resulted in a red card for each team after tempers got the better of most of the players, though in my opinion those who thought the punishment matched the crime are the sort of folk who have got Tom and Jerry taken off the TV. It was mid way through the half and events were coming nicely to the boil.
Chris Reekes added a further penalty three minutes later to give Ionians what seemed an unassailable 17 point lead but Mike Bateman received a yellow card when he deliberately put the ball into touch, preventing Park developing an attack down the flank and they capitalised straight away when they created an overlap and McTurk scored his second try in the corner, too wide out for a successful conversion attempt.
The drama was far from over. Mark Wigham was the recipient of further yellow card for a needless punch, the excuse of him being from Thorne is wearing a little bit thin. To give a team with the home sides attacking potential a two man advantage was stupid, suicidal; almost.
Park attacked again, moving the ball swiftly both ways along the line, probing for an opening. It appeared and centre Mitchell shot through to score a converted try and reduce the deficit to a mere 5 points. What a tense nervous finale, with only four minutes remaining surely any further score would settle it? Not quite. Both sides added points to their tally but crucially the visitors garnered theirs first.
The Ionians pack raised themselves for one final herculean effort. They drove the Park eight relentlessly backwards and a transgression gifted a penalty goal to Reekes to establish a precious eight point advantage. Darlington’s never say die approach gave them the consolation of a fourth try and two bonus points in the final minute of the game, but it was too little too late to take the main prize.
This was a magnificent contest and a credit to both sides and to the standard of rugby at level four.
There were some intriguing individual battles. The crucial one was fought out at scrum half, I will declare my bias because I think Adam Thomas is a most pleasingly combatitive No 9, he had the better of this particular encounter keeping the highly rated McGiffin occupied for most of the match as well as being to the fore in attack and defence. The other key area of the back row was also won by Ionians. They were favourites to win the set piece play but I’s took this superiority to the break down area to allow them to monopolise possession. No mention yet of the nominated MoM. Royce Cadman is something of an enigma. There are times when he looks positively arthritic with his world weary stooping gait but his work rate and desire to carry the ball into contact is exemplary and his lineout work matches that of Joe Makin. He is a welcome addition to the “family”
Next week it’s a trip to Stockport who defeated Caldy yesterday but I expect business as usual.