Depledge the main man as Sheffield win

SHEFFIELD dug deep to record their first win of the season in a tight and absorbing contest at Abbeydale Park.

First-half tries from Dan Rylance and Fergus Wood together with two crucial penalties from Steve Depledge after the break were enough to see the Yorkshiremen home.

Clinging on to a six-point advantage, the hosts survived a total Blaydon onslaught in the final minutes.

It was the visitors who dominated the early exchanges with flanker Sweed Harrison rounding off a spell of sustained pressure for an early try.

The hosts began to assert themselves at the set piece and were finally rewarded midway through the half when Rylance forced his way over from close range.

Blaydon flanker Liam Wright was then sin-

binned and on the stroke of half-time quick ball allowed fly-half Wood to cut inside for the second.

Depledge pushed the advantage to 17-7 with a penalty shortly after the restart.

Now dominating large spells of possession, the visitors narrowed the deficit to just three points when centre Jim Cooney found a gap.

With just four minutes remaining Depledge stretched the lead to 20-14 with a further penalty. The visitors spent the seven minutes of stoppage time in the Sheffield 22 but were unable to break through.