Malton and Norton RUFC

Malton & Norton's James Bulmer has expressed his delight at making his 100th appearance for his boyhood club, describing the feat as "something he never thought would happen".

The 28 year old back, who progressed through the club's junior ranks before making his senior debut 10 years ago, certainly made his presence felt in front of a bumper crowd for Malton's annual Ladies Day celebration, running in two quick-fire tries in the second half to bring his side to within four points of opponents Moortown.

But his side's efforts proved to be in vain in the thrilling end to end encounter, with the visitirs showing exactly why they lead the Regional 2 north east standings with a clinical display across the pitch.  Speaking about reaching the milestone, Bulmer explained thatit has been a long time coming after his Malton career was halted by his time both abroad and at university in the north east.  "I've played at a few different clubs" he recalled. 

"I played at uni in Newcastle, then I played for Alnwick for a year or Two. I played two years in Australia as well before I came back to Malton. It's taken me 10 years to do it, so that's why!.

" I came back to Malton because my family farm's here and it's where my friends and family are, so it's one of those things and it's nice to come back to it.  It's been enjoyable , and oviously making 100th appearance for the club is something that you want to do when you're younger.

I think I was 17 or 18 when I made my senior debut, so it's 10 years ago now. I've played for Malton since I was seven years old and worked my way up, so it's a nice thing to be able to do really.  It's something that I didn't really expect to happen.

When asked about his memorable moments at Malton, two things stuck out for Bulmer - his first senior cap, and his 100th appearance on Saturday. "Getting myfirst first team cap was pretty nice," he admited. "That sticks in mind really, as is this [weekend], getting 100 caps, I'd probably put that up there as one of my favourite moments as well".

And the 28 year old certainly made his presence felt against leaders Moortown, twice crossing the the line in a fantastic comeback to bring the scores to within four points. " I'd like to think that I made a bit of an impact" he laughed.

Obviously with it being my 100th match, it would ohave been nice to take the win but it was very challenging at the same time. It wasn't the easiest opponents being the league leaders, and so it would have being nice to have beaten them.  Desipte scoring a brace, Bulmer isn't necessarily known for his try scoring exploits, and he was righly pleased with his performance.

I think that it was a good performance as a team, there were just a few laxidaisicals really. " Probabley, the few weels out didn't really help us with recent weather maybe affecting our fitness a little bit"  Whearas usually we're pretty strong towards the end, I think that this time we lost a bit of gas.

"I'm not really much of a try scorer, I've probably scored 26 or 27 in my first team career at Malton but i've scored a lot more over the years for everyone else."

Emma Kennedy

Gazette & Hearld