Sunderland 45, Novos 5 - Costly Poor First Half

Sometimes in rugby what can go wrong will go wrong.

In the first set of plays we lost Lewis Chater for the match and Sunderland scored off the first play after we tried to counter attack on the refs advantage. We lost the ball but no whistle came as the ref decided advantage was over and Sunderland scooped up the ball and went in to make it 7-0. Shaun Stewart to ten and Greg Abibu onto the field.

Sunderland have had a good start to the season and showed why as they went on the attack time and time again in the first half.

We lost Harry Mason next who on debut suffered an accidental blow to the head. Chris Ward went on which meant we had used 2 of our 3 subs in the first ten mins.

Sunderland were not in the mood to let us off the hook and scored 33 unanswered points whilst we were trying to find our feet. We also lost George Bambrick to a back injury during the first half - so no more subs as Rhys Gibbons went on.

Half time chat about a test of character, try win the second half and play for some pride as we looked unrecognisable from previous weeks.

Boys started then dominated the second half in possession stats as we were more direct and took on Sunderland around the edges. Louis Matthews and Rhys Merlane led the way with line breaks and the boys followed their lead.

Several mins of pressure led to Louis Matthews crashing over.

We looked a different side going at them and Sunderland made some uncharacteristic errors. The boys led the second half 5-0 all the way up to the 30th min of the half. Sunderland scored a great break out try from their own 22m when we had them under the cosh. Louis Matthews off next as we finished the game with 14 men. Sunderland unfortunately scored again to win the second half 12-5 bringing the final score to 45-5.

Thanks to Shaun for a great job reffing. Enjoyed our chat after the game about the new laws so I could put my point of view across about how things are being reffed - or not. Really do feel the game is becoming impossible to ref as so much is down to interpretation.

Well done to Sunderland as you blew us away in that first half when we took to long to reorganise after injuries and looked a bit sorry for ourselves. Delighted that we showed some character in the second half and made a game of it for the last 40 mins.

Our rollercoaster season continues and the boys need to improve their availability. Not great to have good availability one week and then poor the week you are playing the league favourites. We have two sides scheduled for rugby this week but may try pick up a game as availability for next week looks pretty good.

Don't forget to get you tickets for our curry night social next week after we play Rovers at home and the 3's play Blyth away.

See you at training boys.