Morpeth Live To Fight Another Day As Carlisle Take It Down To The Wire

Morpeth Colts vs. Carlisle Colts. 

With a later kick off time then usual, the Morpeth team had plenty of time to sleep off any late night antics from the previous night’s Halloween celebrations, the exception being loosehead prop Bryn ‘Brynger’ Rowley, who appeared having woken up 10 minutes earlier with fake blood still eerily on his arms.     

Morpeth took to the pitch with a large uche sized hole missing from the side; the big lad had been hospitalised with illness, and as a result the matches have had a sombre mood. Morpeth elected to go uphill first half and into the sun. Scrum half Dan Halliday got the match underway with a drop kick that sailed into the ranks of Carlisle’s forwards, a clean take and  tackle later and the match was firmly, and very physically, underway.

Carlisle nearly got the first points of the game when they burst through a tackle from Captain Matthew Dawson, something extremely uncharacteristic from this solid tackler; however some stoat defending and a penalty averted the danger. Carlisle had the best of the half by far and their captain and number 8 caused problems with his nimble and, for a number eight, extraordinary footwork. However, it was not all one way traffic as Morpeth put together some attacks of their own, with the backs putting it wide to winger Connor Nichol, who is fast developing a trademark move, a duck under the tacklers arm which utilises his lack of height beautifully. As the game continued to be pointless, tempers started to fray on both sides, but in particular the Carlisle side, when captain Cameron Curry was punched in a ruck the perpetrator was lucky to avoid a yellow card, and, perhaps more distressingly, second row Frasier Stewart being elbow dropped. As fly half Paul Wonders put it: “It’s like wrestlemania out there!”

With half time called it was up to the coaches of both teams to get them inspired to go out and win a match that was winnable by both sides. The second half started frantically after the kick off after prop CJ Evens called for the catch, and, due to the massed ranks of fatties, otherwise known as forwards, bearing down on him, this disrupted his concentration enough for him to miss the ball.

Thus began another frantic second half with both sides fighting to come out on top, with neither side quite managing it. However, a series of phases from Morpeth led them closer towards the Carlisle line and an infringement in a ruck, so common throughout the match, brought a penalty for Morpeth. After a consultation with members of the team, it was decided that scrum half Dan Halliday should go for the posts to kick what could be a match decider.

After a few seconds to compose himself, he stepped up confidently and struck the ball, as it sailed through the air it seemed to be going straight through the posts, however its course brought it dangerously close to the posts, and in fact it clipped the right hand side before going over to a raucous cheer from the Morpeth players and supporters.

The converted penalty looked to have sparked life into the Morpeth attack as it looked penetrative, stringing together a series of well rehearsed moves which made significant ground. However, a couple of intercepted passes halted the attack in its strides. The introduction of substitutes brought fresh legs to a rapidly tiring Morpeth side. Alex Welsh came on for Milky, James Hall replaced Rob Williams, Jake Baker came on for Frasier Stewart and Peter Howie replaced Connor Nichol. A reshuffle in the forwards pack as Jack Baker went to blindside flank and Cameron Curry went into the second row. 

As the clock ticked down the Carlisle attack became more determined and frantic, as they came close on numerous occasions, a series of pick and goes by the forward pack resulted in getting close to the Morpeth line, whoever a serious infliction of white line fever came upon the Carlisle forwards, as a blind pick and go resulted in a accidental offside and Morpeth were off the hook.

However, not for long as Carlisle came at the tired but determined Morpeth defence, and a run by the Carlisle backs nearly got them over the line, however a they ran into the wall that was the Morpeth forwards, and the attempt was stopped and then driven backwards as the tackle was turned into a mall. This was to prove the last throw of the dice by Carlisle, and soon after fly half Wonders booted the ball out of touch, this was to prove the last play and the ref, who officiated well, blew his whistle for the last time.

Scenes of jubilation greeted the final whistle as it was acknowledged that Morpeth perhaps where not the best team on the day, but then again, that’s surely the sign of a good side, to be able to win without being the better side.

Final Score: Morpeth 3 Carlisle 0