Durham vs Essex

Durham 44 v 5 Essex
At Hartlepool Rover RFC

Durham followed on from an impressive away win last week with a 44-5 win against Essex at Hartlepool Rovers, setting up a ‘winner takes all’ final pool game Staffordshire at Gateshead next Saturday.

Durham, playing in Gateshead shirts to avoid a colour clash, scored six classy tries using a blend of skill, pace and power in near perfect conditions at the New Friarage.

Essex started strongly showing excellent forward power and controlled aggression in the opening 20 minutes. However, Durham capitalised on a number of Essex mistakes and loose balls to build a 15-0 lead at half-time.

Durham opened the scoring with a penalty from Simon Moore (Middlesbrough) and a trademark score from winger and scoring machine Oliver Brennand (Durham University) saw the home side take the lead, arguably against the run of play.

Durham extended their lead when Moore collected a loose ball and fed Rob McDermott (Durham University) who weaved his way through the Essex defence to score under the posts. Moore added the conversion for a 15-0 lead at the break.

From the restart, Durham started in solid fashion and were rewarded with an unconverted try, when Brennand outpaced the cover to the corner for his second try. Moore added a cheeky drop-goal soon after for a 23-0 advantage.

The introduction of human wrecking ball and centre Chris Hyndman (Billingham) allowed Durham to cross the gain line with ease. Hyndman’s efforts were soon rewarded with the first of his two tries. Moore extended the lead to 30-0 with the conversion.

However, Essex’s only score came soon after when they exploited an overlap and Joe Bezuidenholm (Thurrock) squeezed in at the left corner for an unconverted try and reducing the arrears to 30-5.

Hyndman claimed his brace with a barnstorming run, again converted by Moore. Another strong run by Hyndman and excellent pace by McDermott and David Tate (Gateshead) created a score for Gareth Foreman on his home turf.

Moore added the conversion for a 44-5 score line and sealed an impressive display of running rugby.

Durham entertain Staffordshire at Gateshead RFC on Saturday, 12th May in the final round of pool matches.