Westoe skipper is in line for more honours
Westoe 36 Darlington 33
WESTOE skipper Gareth Nesbit
could be rewarded with the county
captaincy after lifting the
Durham Cup on Saturday.
The combative prop is in line to
succeed Lee Richardson, his opposing
captain in the enthralling
final at Mayfield Park, Hartlepool.
The only disappointment for
Richardson in leading Durham
to promotion from the County
Championshipfs bottom tier was
that the final was not played at
Twickenham. But this year the
Shield final will be at HQ on June
1, which means Nesbit could still
have plenty of rugby as well as a
big incentive ahead of him.
One person he will certainly
want in his county side is
Richardsonfs younger brother,
scrum half Sean, who played a
huge part in keeping his side
afloat on Saturday.
His kicks led to two tries, and
in the last move of the game his
break up the left sparked the brilliant
handling which ended with
replacement right winger Adam
Kibirige touching down.
It was too late to affect the result
of a hotly-contested match,
but it was indicative of how Darlington
kept bouncing back off
the ropes, right to the death.
With Blaydon and Mowden
Park qualifying for the EDF National
Trophy through their
league status, only the winners
on Saturday would join them.
It was a repeat of the qualifier
they contested at the start of the
season, and while the gap has
narrowed enormously Westoe
were still the better side.
But after going 14-3 down Darlington
simply wouldnft lie down.
Their problem was that they
were always playing catch-up as
the only time they led was
through a fifth-minute penalty
by full back Evan Haigh, who
added two more in getting the
gap down to 19-16 at half-time.
Tries were then alternated
until it was 29-28 entering injury
time, at which point Haigh was
faced with a conversion which
might have secured a remarkable
lead. But from well out on the left
he pulled it wide, and in any case
there was still time for one more
try each.
The clincher came when the
Westoe forwards drove into the
right corner and replacement
Mark Olugbode glided through a
gap in the centre to score by the
posts. Sam Rasch, the dancing
boy fly half, converted for an
eight-point cushion.
Rasch, a Kiwi with an aggressive
streak, generally made little
progress with his attempts to
emulate Jason Robinson. But he
did begin the counter-attack
which ended the 20-minute period
in the middle of the second
half when the score was locked at
24-23.
As he had clearly opened up
the opportunity to move the ball
wide on the left it was a surprise
when centre David Haswell chose
to kick for the corner. But the ball
held up on the crosswind, Johan
Saaiman nipped in ahead of a
hesitant opponent to collect it
and slipped it back inside for
winger Paul Alexander to score.
There were two yellow cards
for each side, of which Raschfs
was the most merited and Tom
Wilkinsonfs the most costly.
The Darlington No 8 had been
at the forefront of the forwardsf
steely resistance, and Westoe
scored two tries either side of
half-time while he was off.
They won the try count 6-4, two
of their three in the first half
coming from open side flanker
Kerry Wood, who was in the sinbin
during the second half period
when there was no scoring.
The other first half try came
when Saaiman, a rangy centre,
finished off an excellent handling
move up the right, while
Darlington were awarded a
slightly fortunate penalty try
when the score was 14-6.
Sean Richardsonfs kick down
the right touchline from a ruck
on his own 22 stood up nicely for
winger Alex Lineton, who almost
made the line. When he attempted
to pass inside his target was
taken out off the ball, although
there was no certainty that a try
would have been scored as the
ball was not going to hand.
Westoe drove a maul 20 metres
early in the second half for lock
Paul Bird to score, then another
excellent kick by Richardson produced
a try for left winger Tom
Bivens, who shrugged off two
tackles to score by the posts.
Haighfs conversion had the gap
down to one point, and thatfs how
it stayed until the glut of late
scoring was started by Alexander.
That looked like curtains for
Darlington, especially when
Westoe followed up by almost driving
a maul over and replacement
lock Bill Smith was sinbinned
for pulling it down.
But Darlington broke out
through the determined chase of
a clearance kick by fly half Charlie
Catterall, and after a penalty,
plus ten metres for backchat,
Catterall went for the line.
He was stopped but the ball
came back on the left for turbocharged
prop Dave Tunstead to
burrow over.
That left everything to play for
in injury time, but Westoe were
not going to be denied their first
outright Durham Cup triumph
since 1956 and Olugbodefs try
clinched it.
Saracens booked their first
Heineken Cup semi-final place
via a deserved 19-10 victory over
a disappointing Ospreys at Vicarage
Road.
A try from replacement Francisco
Leonelli and some topdrawer
kicking from Glen Jackson
saw off the Welsh side.
Saracens will now face 2006
winners Munster at Coventryfs
Ricoh Arena, having avenged
last monthfs 30-3 EDF Energy
Cup mauling by Ospreys.
Saracens suffered two injury
setbacks in the space of a couple
of minutes as Brent Russell then
Andy Farrell were forced off.
But their 6-3 half-time lead was
extended to ten points within two
minutes of the restart when their
two replacements combined for
the first try of the day.
Adam Powell fed Leonelli and
the Argentina international
knew evaded Ryan Jonesf last-ditch
tackle to score.
9:45am Monday 7th April 2008
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