STUNNING COMEBACK AS SUNDERLAND WIN
ASHBROOKE MEN ROAR BACK FROM 16-POINT INTERVAL DEFICIT TO DEFEAT ASHINGTON
Sunderland head coach Martin Watt hailed his side’s “grit and determination” in a second-half comeback which claimed the club’s first league win of 2017, away to Ashington on Saturday.
After a string of narrow Durham and Northumberland Division Two defeats, the Ashbrooke squad turned around a half-time 16-point deficit, to run out 41-34 victors.
Watt and his coaching team named a largely unchanged side, with Michael Heffernan returning but starting at full-back.
Grant Edmundson started at blindside flanker, with Sunderland looking to start with a more streetwise pack and back three.
The game got off to the worst possible start as, on three minutes, Ashington broke down their lef, passing and offloading out of tackles, before wriggling free from the unlucky Heffernan, who took a blow to the head for his troubles that saw him leave the field for nearly 30 minutes for a blood injury. The subsequent try was converted for a 7-0 home lead.
Young winger Harry Connell replaced Heffernan and within moments finished a nice two-on-one out wide, touching down, though the conversion to be missed.
Then Sunderland lost focus and in a mad three minutes conceded further tries, taking the score to 26-5, but eventually gathered composure as Heffernan returned and Harry Price scored out wide, finishing another two on one.
A fairly basic team talk identified the issues at the break, with Sunderland 2610 down, and the gauntlet was thrown down for the side to show their character.
Within six minutes of the restart, fly-half Marc Edmundson pulled a score back and then the try of the game came from Jack Hope
Forward phases created space out wide and, from inside his own half, Hope, with support on the wing and inside, dummied two passes, evading drifting defenders and found a burst of pace to close in on the posts, before one final dummy pass to round the full-back, before touching down. Connell, who had replaced Scott Hughes on the left wing, converted to cut the deficit.
Anth Dodds and Chris Little were introduced replacing lock Peter Carter and flanker Grant Edmundson.
Fresh legs did not stop Ashington from a closerange forward pick and go, driving the ball over, to go 33-22up on 63 minutes.
Strong tackles and rucking from Andrew Stewart helped galvanise spirits and captain Joe Arrowsmith’s workrate increased, despite the soaring temperatures.
Sunderland began to edge the scrums as the game wore on and their pack began to play with more shape and desire.
As Edmundson broke out, a missed pass found Connell out wide to score, converting his own try to bring the score back to 33-29.
Ryan Buckley fielded the restart for Sunderland to play a few phases and kick behind Ashington’s back three, only to lose the ball in contact.
From the scrum, Fish drew defenders before releasing Price to sprint in from 40 metres out. The conversion was missed, but Sunderland were a point ahead with five minutes to go.
The Ashbrooke side played down the clock well, then, with a minute to play, Arrowsmith took a short pass from a ruck and battered his way over to score a converted try, capping a remarkable comeback by sealing an eight-point win.
Sunderland Flames, the club’s women’s team, lost their final league game of the season against Preston Grasshoppers yesterday.
Travelling with just 14 players, they went down to 13 and failed to match their hosts power, losing 55-15.