Try fest as Ashington touch down nine times against Houghton
Ashington ran in nine tries against third place Houghton in a magnificent display of running rugby.
There was a minute’s silence before the game in memory of former first team prop and club coach Ronnie Brotherton, who passed away recently.
Once the game started, Ashington looked in fluent form despite the late reshuffle of the team due to a late cry-off.
On three minutes, prop Ian Brierley crashed over under the posts from five metres, Oliver Snary converting.
Snary then added a penalty to give Ashington a 10-0 lead.
After 21 minutes man of the match Jordan Henderson drove over for the first of his four tries, his second try quickly followed, Snary converting to give Ash a 22-0 lead.
Joseph Fearns, playing in the centre, then got the first of his hat-trick, his second try coming on the stroke of half time after a Jacob Simmons break. Snary adding both conversions.
Half time, 36-0 to Ashington.
Houghton started the second half strongly and scored the first of their five tries just after the restart.
Two tries in quick succession from Jordan Webster and Fearns settled any home nerves. Houghton then added two tries before Brian Merryweather scored in the corner after a 50 metre run from prop Ian Brierley.
Webster added the last Ashington try after a Richard Harmer break and offload to Christopher Johnson, who found Andrew Reynolds in support, Webster running in from 20 metres.
In a game superbly refereed by former international referee Dave Pearson, Houghton added two further late tries as Ashington took their foot off the gas.