News & EventsLatest NewsCalendar
Morpeth Game Report

Morpeth Game Report

Allan Lambert17 May 2017 - 10:15
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.keswickrugby.com/n

A Home Win

For their final home game of the season last Saturday, Keswick played a friendly against a touring side from Morpeth Rugby Club. Coming the day after the Senior Players' Presentation Evening this was to be an opportunity for some of the younger players to take centre stage.

As anticipated, the game was a high scoring affair with tries exchanged between both sides throughout the first half. Morpeth opened the scoring and chose to play a forward orientated game tight to the ruck, whilst the young Keswick side, comprised mainly of 17-23 year olds bolstered by a few senior players, looked to move the ball wide at every opportunity, with quick penalties and wide passing into open spaces. Lewis Bell was first to cross the line for Keswick and Tom Slack also looked dangerous scoring down the right hand side, whilst Morpeth responded with three more tries of their own. Keswick looked like they would run away with it before the half time whistle with tries from Ally Hewett-Smith, Jamie McKenzie and Ryan Graham who managed 2. Half time score 34 - 24 to Keswick.

The second half continued in the same vein when Christian Sellars hit a good line off a quick tap penalty to score under the posts for Keswick. Morpeth responded by using their sizeable bench effectively to bring on some fresh legs, and took the young Keswick side by surprise with a number of converted scores, including a 15 man pushover and a brilliant 40 metre solo effort from their fly half, leaving them 8 points ahead with 10 minutes on the clock, much to the dismay of the young Keswick team. However, the youngsters responded well when Lewis Bell narrowed the gap and bagged himself a brace, followed by George Holme's superb chip and chase to cross under the sticks and regain the lead. In the last play of the game, Keswick elected to keep the ball in hand rather than find touch, which was rewarded when Kelvin Tsoi crashed over to score in his final game in Keswick colours. The final score was Keswick 52 Morpeth 44.

In the spirit of "tour rugby" Keswick had elected for a kicking strategy throughout the game of "the scorer drop kicks the conversion", which meant that the goal kicking from the home side left much to be desired. Morpeth were more conservative and this paid off with a number of conversions from their rangy fly half.

All in all the game was played in great spirit, with the more experienced Morpeth side, providing a good test for the young Keswick players who've had a brilliant season all round.

Further reading