Alnwick defeat in last rugby game before ban

On Monday it was confirmed by English Rugby authorities that they had subsequently imposed a blanket ban on all games and training due to the continuing growth of the outbreak.

Alnwick were possibly still slightly irked by Blackburn’s squeaky 3 – 5 win at Greensfield and were hoping for some small measure of redress, while Blackburn were equally keen to bounce back from their 17 – 24 defeat by Sandal the previous week and consolidate their already comfortable 6th league place.

The dry day gave way to a light drizzle just as Alnwick were kicking off into a moderate wind blowing straight down the pitch.

The opening exchanges in Blackburn’s half were evenly contested but strong individual drives and good recycling assisted by a penalty put Blackburn on the front foot in a good field position.

Alnwick’s defence did well to hold some dynamic thrusts from the 5m line-out but when Blackburn stole possession at an Alnwick throw, flanker Richardson just managed to stretch over for the try, with Fifield’s conversion making it 7 – 0 inside 10 minutes.

From the re-start some promising Alnwick moves ended when they ceded territory on losing possession at a line-out and then suffered a serious setback 15 minutes in when prop Danny Clayton was stretchered off with what subsequently transpired to be a nasty leg fracture. His departure was soon followed by hooker James Cowan with a back problem.

Although replacements Tim Mickie at prop and Charlie Davies as makeshift hooker performed heroically along with the rest of the pack, the changes clearly unsettled the set scrums for the rest of the game whilst Blackburn benefitted from this unfortunate disruption and utilised ample possession to gain considerable forward momentum.

Alnwick did have their moments but in the increasingly

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