Durham U20's get another WIN!

Durham U20's made the trip to Wigan RFC to play Lancashire in their 3rd game of the North group this season. The match started at a high tempo with Lancashire having early possession, but found it difficult to break a strong Durham defense. After 12 minutes, a powerful Durham scrum in front of the home team posts was rewarded with a penalty, and a quick tap by Dan Ormond saw the Lancs prop James Bonia sin binned for early interference. Resultant pressure resulted in Alex Radcliffe crashing over for the first try of the game, converted by Magnus Broadley.

Despite constant pressure from the visitors, the home teams defense stood firm and it wasn't until the 37th minute when good handling by the backs saw Ethan Cole break away on the left touchline to increase the score to 12-0 at half time.

The second half started with a bang when Ben Clarke threw an outrageous dummy before passing to the supporting Ormond to score, with Broadley converting for a lead of 19-0. However, a proud Lancashire team showed some courage and fight and eventually created an opening in Durham's ranks to score close to the corner for 19-5. This appeared to jolt the Durham team, who quickly returned in the ascendance with Radcliffe powering over again, after sustained forward pressure close to the line.

This seemed to demoralize the home team, and Durham started to run riot with further tries with Cole completing a well deserved hat-trick, Lochie Lawson and an individual effort from around 70 yards from Boris Ames, initially set up by replacement prop McKenna Longstaff. For his troubles, Longstaff suffered a dislocated finger, but bravely continued to see out the game. At full time, Durham had secured an away win of 52-5, consisting of 8 tries and 6 conversions.

Whilst the final result appeared slightly unfair to the hard work of the Lancashire team, the Durham squad clicked well after a 4 week absence and now look forward to their final group game at Ryton RFC on Sunday 7th May. The players and management are hoping for a good local turnout to see them play.