Morpeth rugby end their season with final day defeat

It has been a season whicht saw a young Morpeth side recover from a poor, injury ravaged beginning, to ultimately end sixth in the highly competitive North One East league.

Next season it will be all change, however. A league restructure, whilst not yet fully confirmed, but it is anticipated that the biweekly trips to Yorkshire will end, with the majority of games having a more local flavour. Only time will tell if this ultimately effects both the competition and standard.

The match itself was just about over by half time as Brods dominated with four tries making full use of the elements and particular use of a strong driving maul which resulted in two of their first half scores.

As for Morpeth, first up tackling was an issue, not helped by the hard ground.

Brods’ number 8, arguably the man of the match, caused the Mitford Road outfit significant problems, not only with some line out dominance but also the ability to break quickly and effectively from the base of the scrum.

Half time score 26-0.

Whilst not an excuse, the wind died in the second half and Morpeth were unable to take advantage. Nevertheless, they came back into the game, scoring two excellent tries with good offloads being key.

Firstly number 8 and skipper for the day, Josh Williams went over, for fly half Jake McKay to add the conversion. The two players combined again with another converted score before Brods stamped their authority back on the game.

Some poor penalties allowed the home side to gain territory before scoring another try.

Back came Morpeth, with some enterprising handling before a Brods interception saw the home side seal the deal.

Brods finished the game with a final score to thoroughly deserve their victory.

For Morpeth, skipper Williams performed admirably along with Telford, playing in an unusual position of scrum half. Both Josh and Jake McKay, together with Turner were stoic throughout.

For the first time there are two ‘men of the match’ – Kieran Smith and Miles Gavaghan.