Boro punish loss of Darlington discipline
Middlesbrough 20 Darlington 13
ON A bad day for the Richardson
brothers, Boro skipper David was
the only one to emerge with any
joy, despite having to be helped
off with a leg injury ten minutes
from time.
His brothers in the opposition,
Lee and Sean, were both sinbinned,
while Lee also suffered
the rare indignity of having the
captaincy taken off him by the
referee.
Apart from the sibling rivalry,
there was the added piquancy of
both teams containing players
who had swapped clubs. But the
scraps reflected the game in that
they never threatened to erupt
into all-out attack.
The referee insisted that Joe
Oselton take over the Darlington
captaincy after deciding that Lee
Richardson had become overheated
when Sean was handed
his yellow card for killing the ball
early in the second half.
Frustrations were mounting
because their brother had just
slotted a drop goal to put Boro 12-
5 ahead after they had deservedly
trailed 5-0 from the fifth to the
30th minute.
While Darlington were down to
14, Boro added a try and a penalty,
and although the visitors applied
enough pressure in the last
20 minutes to get back into it
their second try at the death
came too late.
It would have been much
tighter had they had a goal-kicker.
In the absence of Evan Haigh
the job was handed to fly half
Charlie Catterall, who pulled two
penalties wide on the cross-wind.
That he fluffed the final conversion
scarcely mattered as it was
the last kick of the game.
Haigh will be back for this
week's home match against
Cleckheaton, which Darlington
must win if they are to stay afloat
in the North One relegation battle.
They have improved massively
since shipping 60 points at home
to Boro in September, and dominated
the first half hour on Saturday.
Had some of the high-risk stuff
attempted by the younger backs
come off they might have won; as
it was it handed Boro a win which
lifts them away from danger.
Attempts to off-load out of the
tackle usually resulted in
turnovers, while Boro's only try
resulted partly from an attempted
interception.
As they won the try-count 2-1,
Darlington will also look at how
their discipline disintegrated
once the tide began to turn.
It took Boro 30 minutes to get
into the visiting 22, but by halftime
Lee Rust had kicked three
simple penalties, then Sean
Richardson's sin-binning effectively
settled the game.
He was clearly one of the better
performers and once he returned
Darlington began to get
back on top.
Catterall landed a straight
penalty from just outside the 22
to give them hope, and they
should have got within one score
just after home fly half Paul Lee
was sin-binned for not rolling
away.
This resulted in a penalty
under the posts with ten minutes
left and Darlington opted for a
scrum, from which they picked
up and attempted to drive over,
only to be guilty of obstruction.
Shortly afterwards they had
another series of five-metre
scrums and replacement prop
Bill Smith got to the line, only to
he held up.
When they finally did drive
over the referee hastily awarded
the try before running back ten
metres to sort out a scrap between
Lee Richardson and Gavin
Fingland. Both were sin-binned,
but time was up anyway.
Things had looked so much
better for the Darlington captain
five minutes into his return after
a ten-week absence.
Full back Jimmy Atkinson almost
got to the line following a
half break by centre Andrew
Pugh, then the forwards
achieved a vital turnover as Boro
tried to rumble clear. The ball
was moved into the left corner
and back again for Richardson to
score.
While otherwise impressive,
his forwards were not secure at
the line-out, relying mainly on
Steve Taylor while ignoring 6ft
9in Chris Oakley, presumably because
he is too heavy to lift.
It was after losing a line-out on
their own throw that they conceded
Rust's first penalty, then
Boro hooker Richard Horton
burst on to a short pass to create
the panic which led to the second.
Boro dominated the middle of
the match and their try came
after a catch-and-drive was foiled
but they managed to work their
way into midfield. The ball was
then moved right and the failed
interception allowed Rust to send
Andy Micklewright over.
Simon Moore was sent on at
full back at that stage and landed
a good penalty from wide on
the right after a kick bounced
awkwardly for Darlington and
they were guilty of pulling back
a pursuing player.
The deficit proved too much for
them to claw back, but there were
enough good signs to suggest
they can win three of their remaining
games and hang on.
10:05am Monday 3rd March 2008
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