With the rainfall over the week leading up to the fixture it was never going to be a beautiful game of running rugby but both teams came and at least tried to play.

The game started with the Boars kicking and working down hill, Paul Ridley kicked off and Seaham Harbarians quickly settled into their forward dominated game with big carries from a numerous forwards, however the Boars defence was solid and some good tackles by Captain Richard Lydiatt, Kieran Smith, Gary Shepherd, Darren Schofield and Richy Walsh made sure that any gained yards were hard fought for.

Th Boars took possession and tried to play their game by using the backs and attacked with a quick pick and go by the forwards and then span the ball through hands (which in the conditions was bloody difficult) Ridley found Dan Haddock who shipped it to Lee Bainbridge and eventually it got to Cummy who made his way into the Harbarians 22 but the attack lost its spark and Houghton the possession of the ball.

More bruising runs from the Harbarians met with a solid defence again and the Boars managed to force a knock on and have a scrum in the oppositions 22, clearly upset by this the strong Harbarians scrum won the ball back only for their backs to knock on and another scrum to the Boars.the next few passages of play were the Boars running hard lines met with an equally solid defence from the Harbarians but some ill discipline from the home side saw penalty after penalty which allowed the Boars to run each one moving closer and closer towards the try line.

The Boars are putting phase after phase together and have possession for what seems like an age in the opposition half slowly moving forward making the hard yards through a tough tackling Harbarians team.

The Boars have a scrum 5 metres out, they call a 8, 9, 14 move - Walshy picks from 8 and runs.......through the flanker.......Shepherd screaming for a pass so he can put Gowland in at the corner.......Walshy with the flanker, fullback and now number 8 hanging off him still doesn't release the pass, crosses the line and manages to get the ball down (somehow) if he didn't he would have 100% got DOTD. Unfortunately during this one of the Harbarian lads was at the bottom of the pile and seriously injured his ankle - conversion missed 0 - 5.

The rest of the half (10-15 mins) saw the Harbarians running hard lines in the backs but the Boars tackling was excellent and they didn't allow any clear breaks at all, Ridley, Dan H and Lee B hit everything!

The conditions and the nature of the game started to take its tole on the phases of play which saw knock on after knock on and one dimensional attacks from both teams with one up rugby being the preferred option, however, it played into the hands of both defences which never waned.

Shepherd didnt agree with one refereeing decision too many and was marched back another 10 yards for making his thoughts known but nothing came from the attack.

The Boars attacked well through the young guns - Ethan Forrester made a break and made some good yards, offloaded to Kieran Smith who cut a good line then offloaded to Cummy who made it into the 22 only to be tackled and knocked it on.

HT 0 - 5

The second half was more of the same with both teams running hard lines, taking forward balls around rucks and the defences coming up on top.

The Boars have recycled the ball a few times now and have made the space for the backs to run the ball, from our own 22 the ball is span from Shepherd to Ridley who dances past the 10 and offloads a wonderful pass to put Dan H through a gap between the inside and optside centres and now the pitch is wide open with nobody in front of him, Dan H goes 5.......10.........15 metres into the oppostion half - can he do it? can he run in a try for this far out? NO, No he can't - he didn't get any further than the 15 metres as a sniper from the woods managed to get him - Hamstring pinged and he slid onto the ground in a moaning painful heep - DOTD right there.

Darren Schofiled who had been carrying the ball forward all day made a great break through the defence and off loaded to Ashy who made good yards too, the Boars now into the 22 were given a penatly, they ran it and setup a driving maul hich took them close to the 5 metre line - the backs were now given the chance to score however was knocked on in the centres by Carl Stokoe.

The Harbarians were given a penalty about 25-30 metres out for ill discipline and opted to kick, much to the amusement of the Boars team who couldn't understand why in a friendly you would chose that option?? anyway the kicker former Boars player James Bromley pulled the kick wide left of the posts - still 0 - 5.

Angered by this the Harbarians took hold of the game and dominated the last 20 minutes with one up rugby by the pack sucking in the defence of the Boars which allowed their backs to make some punishing runs - solid hits by Ridley and Lee B stopped the initial attacks but the second wave broke through - their flying winger cutting inside sniffing the try line only for Cummy to make try saving tackle no.1.

The Harbarians then had three scrums in quick succession which the Baors defended the phases after each one really well, Ridley clears into touch, then Shepherd clears into touch.

Seaham break again through the middle - its two on one and the fullback just has cummy to beat with the winger supporting, Cummy makes try saving tackle no. 2 - smashes the fullback who if he held onto the ball would have probably fell over the line but he pops it off to the winger who fumbles it and knocks it on.

The shear amount of pressure being put on the Boars defence by the pick and goes from rucks is enabling the backs to hit more open space and the winger who fumbled last time has a clear pitch in front of him, but hang on what's this? is it a bird? is it a plane? NO its Cummy!!!

The winger tries to step Cummy one way and the other but Cummy is having non of it and makes his third and final try saving tackle of the day by snotting the winger and dislodging the ball for a Boars scrum their own 22, Ridley clears again.

we are now moving into the last minutes of the game and Seaham have thrown everything at this Boars defence - even the kitchen sink which got battered away!!

but on the 73rd minute the breakthrough happened when a good backs move split the defence on the winger who had a torrid time against Cummy went in for the try in the corner - conversion missed 5 - 5.

he last 7 minutes saw both teams huffing puffing in midfield with no team getting the upper hand, both teams attacking making good yards only for someone to knock on.

Game finished 5 - 5, great game of rugby to play in and watch.

MOM - David Cummings
DOTD - Dan Haddock

Houghton Rugby Club

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