Malton and Norton RUFC

RUGBY IN THE RAW.

James Knock

Thirty six players, one referee, two linesmen, two coaches, the ground and clubhouse staff, all deserve our hearty thanks for providing a game of rugby in the toughest of conditions not seen at the Gannock in a long while.
Malton kicked off towards the town end with the sleet turning to snow.  On the first set piece there was an ominous shove by the visiting pack demonstrating their capabilities early on.
Malton weathered the early storm and taking play up to the Brod’s red zone we’re awarded 3 penalties on the trot and opted for set piece which yielded no points.
However the pressure told and on 15 minutes the ball was worked to Fothergill who forced his way over for 5 points only in a splendid individual effort.
There followed a period of intense pressure from Brods and on 22 minutes a catch and drive from a line out saw their no8 dot down after 25 metres was travelled in the blink of an eye.
On 32 minutes Bulmer was shown a yellow for kicking the ball away after the whistle had gone for a penalty award and Brods promptly took the 3 points.
At half time Malton lost Foan to a groin injury and Wood replaced him.

Malton swapped their tight head for the bench replacement at half time and a clever grubber kick drop out to the aforementioned on resumption was spilt and together with a verbal aside saw a scrum decision transformed into a penalty which had the knock on effect of penning Malton in their 20 metre area for a lengthy spell.
Brods with plenty of possession ran at Malton keeping ball in hand but conditions resulted in a lot of handling errors.
With the possession from some of these turnovers Malton chose to put the ball high in the air with shallow depth and little ground gained and as a consequence spent the bulk of the time in their own half. Malton also lost their try scorer to injury on 55 minutes which necessitated a shuffle round of resources.
Malton to their credit held out with some last ditch tackling from all 15 men and on 72 minutes a breakout on only the third occasion this half saw Bulmer hack through but a chasing defender cynically and dangerously tripped him up with 30 metres to go and what could have been a 7 point decision and an accompanying yelllow was simplified to a straight penalty and the transgressor being helped off the pitch with an ankle injury, the reward for his intervention.
Malton camped under the Brod’s sticks but gave away a penalty for holding on after 3 phases and the visitor’s lines were cleared. Minutes later the final whistle sounded on a rare scoreless half in the most testing of conditions.
Malton now have a week off before reconvening at Durham City on March the third and the next home game a week later with Consett the visitors and upppermost in their minds the need to secure maximum points as two sides below 3 and 6 points respectively adrift but both with 2 games in hand lie in wait in late March and late April.

Malton:   Ali Fothergill,  Jacob Stephenson,  Tom Foan,  James Bulmer,  Will Bell,  Tom Hoggard,  Paul Angus,  Nick Salisbury,  Bailey Lamb,  John Lumley,  Will Dunn,  Jamie Rounthwaite,  Will Hughes,  Tom Lowry,  Sam Triffitt (c).

Subs:   Rob Featherstone,  Sean Emms,  James Wood,  (all used).

Scorers:   Fothergill  1 try