SUNDERLAND TRIUMPH AMID YELLOW FEVER!
Sunderland ran out 49-28 victors against Bishop Auckland in a combative game that saw an incredible five yellow cards brandished; three against Sunderland and two against Bishop.
Sunderland rested a couple of youngsters ahead of their Colts clash on Sunday and made several changes to their squad.
A late fitness test saw Andrew Wordsworth retain his starting position at Lock following a lacklustre display at Ryton last week and he put in a much-improved performance aided by the returning Pete Harrison’s fine lineout ball and calm captaincy, and some impressive breaks and carries throughout the game.
A much-changed pack saw returning forwards Kieron Hanlon, Pete Harrison, Ryan Buckley, Luke Victory, Grant Edmundson and Jack Hope take up slots across the front five and back row.
Joe Welch looked to make his first team debut as flank cover from the bench joined by Chris Geehan and Dom Younger.
Recovering from injuries, Marc Edmundson came back in at fly half, Joe Buckley at outside centre, and Cam Meike on the wing: all three delivering influential performances as the game panned out.
Leon Ryan opened the scoring and converted his own try on five minutes running the ball in after taking a long miss pass from Marc Edmundson after the pack drove a maul upfield from a well-worked lineout. Ryan amassed 24 points over the game, adding three penalties and a further five conversions.
Within two minutes, scores were level and Sunderland were down to 14 men.
Bishop’s pack worked slow phases inside of Sunderland’s five-metre line, with successive pick and goes being well contained and covered.
The referee saw fit to award a penalty try and sin bin Jack Hope for infringing at the breakdown, which appeared to be harsh as there was plenty of cover and no clear scoring opportunity.
Sunderland’s pack were not deterred and saw their seven men turnover Bishop’s scrum in the minutes leading up to their first yellow card brandished on 10 minutes (and again when Luke Victory saw yellow in the second half ). The penalty was converted by Ryan.
Within eight minutes, Marc Edmundson was taken out by a high trailing arm with the try line at his mercy. Expecting a red card, spectators were baffled when the only punishment was the award of a Sunderland penalty.
Bishop saw a second player yellow carded on 18 minutes and Ryan extend the score with another penalty.
Luke Victory, who has played for both clubs, was impressive on his return putting in big hits to clear rucks and making hard yards with ball in hand.
From a scrum, Ben Hutchinson made a break down the left 15metre- channel on the left fracturing Bishop’s defence.
Andy Wordsworth then filled in at scrum half, finding Marc Edmundson who released Joe Buckley at outside centre. Under considerable pressure Buckley drew defenders and with a delayed pass sent Fraser Adamson into space to score a fine try.
Adamson bagged his second as he called for the ball, taking Edmundson’s fine chip in the bounce to then gas his opposite number to score out wide to end the half 27-7 in Sunderland’s favour.
Chris Geehan came on for Ryan Buckley, who had been imposing at the scrum and in defence.
Another penalty from Ryan after two minutes stretched the score, but Sunderland then lost Victory to the sin bin.
Bishop took a quick tap penalty and found their inside centre who ran onto ball at pace to crash through and score. He had been well shackled by centres Chris Little and Joe Buckley up to that point.
Jack Hope pressurised a kick into Bishop’s 22 and stripped the ball from the defender to drive through tackles and over the line under the posts.
Joe Welch came on as a blood replacement for Victory as he had a cut patched up. In his absence, Sunderland scored again, working ball through hands to find Cam Meike to power through defenders to score out wide.
Joe Buckley was the next and final player to earn a rest in the sin bin on 68 minutes and Bishop’s strike runner struck again in his absence taking the score to 42-21 and presenting Bishop with time to push for a bonus point.
Dom Younger replaced Meike and made a great impact with ball in hand, levelling attempted tacklers who were a too high to avoid his hand-off.
Wordsworth made a mazy break down right wing, bouncing tacklers and spinning into space to make impressive yards and Ryan Buckley came back on for Kie Hanlon.
From a scrum in Bishop’s 22, Marc Edmundson sent defenders the wrong way and bore down on the fullback. He released a great offload to Dom Younger to crash ball over line under posts with thee minutes to play.
Bishop never backed down and with the final play passed by Sunderland’s rushed defence to bag what was effectively their fourth try to earn a bonus point.