Sunderland return to duty with victory in County Cup
Sunderland RFC lifted the Durham County Junior Cup in a pulsating clash with Winlaton Vulcans, hailed by chairman Paul Geehan as the perfect start to the season.
The Ashbrooke outfit clinched a 27-21 victory after weathering a fightback from the Tynesiders, who trailed 213 to the Wearsiders after just half an hour.
A peerless kicking display by half back Ben Hutchinson and a man-of-the-match performance by captain Adam Barrass helped secure cup honours for Sunderland in the delayed 2019-20 final at Gates head on Saturday.
Gee hans aid :" The coaches have done a fantastic job preparing this group of players through a difficult transition back into rugby. It has been 18 months since our lastand the players put on a great performance for our supporters."
Ge eh an confirmed that full back Alex Tuckwell, who was stretchered off with a neck injury following a high tackle, was "ok and out of hospital".
Sunderland opened the scoring on three minutes, after Winlaton conceded a penalty just outside the five metre line for not releasing a tackled player, Hutchinson converting from the left. The Vulcans equalised just minutes later, as Sunderland committed the same offence.
On 10 minutes, Sunderland put the Vulcan sb a ck three under pressure with a high kick and as their 15 dallied, centre Marc Edmundson pounced, fly-hacking the ball on, collecting his own kick to score, Hutchinson unable to convert.
Following a high tackle on Tuckwell, Simon Coleman was introduced at 15, followed swiftly by another successful penalty from the boot of Hutchinson with the Vulcans offside on 29 minutes.
As Sunderland's pressure began to tell and a cynical Vulcans attempted to bully and disrupt, incurring the displeasure of the referee, from a penalty Sunderland kicked for an attacking line out just inside the Vulcans' 22. From the throw, Barrass peeled around the front of the line to bump off three Vulcans' defenders, stretching out to score in the corner. This time, Hutchinson slotted the touchline kick to take the score to 21-3.
With the Vulcans' number 5 sin-binned for a high tackle, the black-and-whites were able to kick for territory and from the resulting line out and driving maul, a desperate Sunderland defence conceded a penalty try for collapsing the maul to make it 21-10. Vulcans added their second successful kick to narrow the gap to 2113 at half time. With Vulcans now in the ascendancy, Sunderland attempted to put more width on the ball, while competing hard at the breakdown, but it was Vulcans who struck next, kicking a penalty on 46 minutes, for Sunderland not releasing, to narrow the lead to 5, at 21-16. Hooker Pete Harrisonwon a turnover penalty for the Ash brooke side, converted by Hutchinson.
As the clock ticked down, the Vulcans claimed the next crucial score from a lineout catch and drive inside Sunderland' s 22, to score to the right hand side of the posts. Crucially, they missed the conversion and with the slimmest of leads at 24-21, Hutchinson was able to finally extend Sunderland' s lead with a final penalty on 71 minutes.
Veterans Joe Arrowsmith, Jake Bellfield and Luke Bryan Victory then co-ordinated a spell of possession to eat away at the clock as Sunderland celebratedvictory with their travelling supporters.