A warm spring morning saw Sandal take the 2hr trip to Blaydon to face a team on a good run of form and sitting high mid table. Sandal suffered one of its heaviest defeats in recent year in this fixture in 2025 so pride was at stake as well as some much needed points to get clear of any chance of relegation with only a few games left of this campaign.
Sandal started strong throwing the ball amongst the backs and taking advantage of the 3G pitch and dry conditions. Strong runs from Mac Walsh and Oliver Wigglesworth showed sparks of life however Blaydon took possession of the ball and through strong forward play, marched the ball up the field, sprayed it amongst their backs and were awarded a penalty try on the far left and a yellow card for Sandals Dafydd Ebsworth.
Sandal didn’t lose heart and again, played some lovely rugby with good possession however they failed to execute within the Blaydon 22 and again, lost possession and Blaydon scored 3 trys in quick succession. Quick thinking from the restart saw Dec Thompson break the line and register a score for Sandal. In the 36th minute a close quarter drive across the line gave a try to Mac Walsh with extra’s from Tom Hodson kept Sandal in touch with Blaydon. Sandal went into half time 38 – 14 down.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first half with Blaydon using the width of the 3G pitch, bounce of the ball and dry conditions to assert their dominance. Two try’s in the second half completed a hattrick for Sandals Mac Walsh and a try from Elliot Ward in the last passage of play gave Sandal a much needed bonus point.
Credit must go to Blaydon who were the better team on the day and despite a resurgence from Sandal, they had simply left themselves too much to do. Sandal must shake off this defeat and finish their remaining fixtures with the high quality rugby they are more than capable of.
Match Report by Justin English