A gentleman walking his dog popped over to see me and asked were these the trials for the British and Irish Lions! Although surprised at his question, this match reporter could see exactly where he was coming from. All the practice, often with coaches wondering if we were achieving what we needed to (it is sometimes hard to see progress week on week), came to fruition.

The first match by Team 1 was a closely fought affair, hard tackles, brilliant passing, and great use of space, leaving one proud mum close to tears as she saw eight passes strung together with her dearly beloved son scoring in the corner. The game ended 9-8 to Consett but as their coach pointed out, they have played a few games already.

On the other pitch, some of the newer players started their rugby careers and it was so evident that they had learned essential parts of the game in a short period of time complimented by the more experienced players around them. It was no surprise that the second round of games saw a bit more exhaustion creep in particularly on a glorious hot day, but that did not deter a particular fan club from cheering their boy home to tries on numerous occasions.

The final game against each other left one dad on the edge of his seat, 10-9, 10-10, 11-10, 11-11 and finally a last ditch try in the corner for one of the more experienced players sealed the game 12-11!

What it did prove was that all our team are progressing well, working well together and have a passion for improving. No names in this report as it would be unfair to say that anyone was better or worse than anyone else. It was all round excellent!!

Steve and I are extremely proud of how the gang played and we are so impressed at how they all committed to the first and only game this season. The future looks good and if we continue to improve at this rate, victory is only around the corner!