Ashington Rugby Club on the hunt for silverware after reaching final

Ashington beat Percy Park Lions to reach the final of the Northumberland RFU Senior Plate Shield. Picture: Ian Storey

Ashington Rugby Club won through to the County Plate final with this hard-fought victory against a strong Percy Park Lions side.

Ashington started strongly, with runs from Darren Dickinson, Tyler Hepple and Brian Merryweather before skipper Johnathan Arkle gave them the lead with a well-struck penalty.

Ashington extended their lead after 15 minutes with Arkle’s second penalty after a run from Jordan Webster.

The home side then had a period of pressure, but Ashington restricted them to a penalty.

In the first 20 minutes, Ashington lost Greg Henderson and Owen Jarvis to injury, causing a reshuffle of the pack and the introduction of Jake Eagle to make his first team debut.

On 27 minutes, another first team debutant, Johnny McNichol touched down after a pass from Hepple, Arkle adding the conversion.

Again Park bounced back but could only score through a penalty to make the half-time score 6-13.

Bradley Smart replaced Ian Brierley at half-time and made an immediate impact with a strong run, before the visitors were forced to defend, with Matthew Moffat, Dickinson and Paul Howie all making great tackles.

Eventually the pressure told and from a tap penalty Park levelled the scores.

After being forced to defend for most of the third quarter, Ashington attacked from the halfway line in a sweeping move, Merryweather breaking down the right wing and finding Howie in support, who raced over for a try, Arkle missing the tricky conversion.

After further Park pressure, a steal at the ruck from Mathew Webster saw Junk and Andrew Reynolds combine up the blindside and Reynolds was forced into touch.

Damian Martinez stole the overthrown lineout to charge upfield, and Arkle kicked the penalty awarded at the ruck.

With five minutes remaining and facing relentless Park pressure, Junk broke out of defence with a superb 60-metre jinking run, only to be stopped by a dangerous tackle.

Ash attacked from the penalty, Dickinson taking the ball to crash through two tackles for the final try, Arkle converted to make the final score 13-28.

Ashington play Northern Wanderers in the Northumberland County Plate Final on Saturday (April 22), venue to be confirmed.