Dominant performance sees Ashington win Northumberland Senior Plate final

The Ashington players celebrate after winning the final. Picture: Ashington rugby club

Ashington rugby club’s good mid-week preparations in training paid dividends as they took on Northern Wanderers in the Northumberland Senior Plate final.

On the front foot from the off, Ashington took the lead from a scrum penalty scored by Johnny Arkle after just three minutes.

They were never out of the attacking half in the first 12 minutes and spurned a couple of chances when the last pass was overthrown to the wingers.

On 17 minutes Alex Stott scored a try from a great break through the centre that was converted by Arkle.

Although the Ashington scrum was dominant, Northern came back into the game with a period of sustained pressure and Ash conceded three penalties in the red zone before a break from their own line resulted in a penalty to Ashington, which was well struck by Arkle.

Right on half-time, Northern struck back with a converted try for a 13-7 half-time score which didn't reflect Ashington's dominance.

Three minutes into the second half and Arkle kicked another penalty, but almost immediately Northern produced a good attack and scored a try and conversion to put the game in the balance at 16-12.

Ashington moved up a gear and when they were awarded a penalty on the halfway line, Arkle was quick to react with a tap penalty and raced through a gap, drew the last defender and passed to the supporting Owen Jarvis for a try converted by Arkle.

Soon after Alex Stott made another great break from 40 metres to score and make the score 28-12.

This was quickly followed by another Arkle penalty on 60 minutes.

Ashington continued to attack with pace and determination, and Jarvis did well to improvise when he controlled a low pass with his knee to knock it over the line to score his second try, again converted by Arkle.

Ashington's final try proved to be the best with veteran Darren Dickinson collecting the ball on the Ashington 10-metre line before breaking through the first line of defence and stepping inside the covering tacklers to run 50 metres for the try.

Northern had the final score of the match only a minute from the end with a converted try.

Final score 45-19.

The win was a great way to celebrate the club’s centenary.