Barnard Castle 19 Winlaton 6

CASTLE'S preparation for next week's cup final was perfection itself with a real test against gritty opposition.

Castle, missing captain Kirk Thompson with a torn hamstring, moved winger Adam Firmin to fly half and he performed admirably.

They were also without flanker Rob Smith with an injured wrist and lock Drew Kirtley, who withdrew through illness hours before kick-off.

Paul House was promoted from the bench and Eggs Clement was deservedly given another start.

After an even first ten minutes, Winlaton's chunky and abrasive forwards built up a head of steam as they continuously recycled the ball and drove round the fringes at the Castle try-line.

But the Castle defence was immense and all Winlaton could achieve was a single penalty to lead 3-0, although Barney did lose prop Matthew Bell to the sin-bin after a number of team infringements.

In the final ten minutes of the half, and a man down, Barney bounced back when excellent counter-rucking allowed them to steal the ball.

The back line went forward at pace, allowing Adam Firmin to sinuously glide through a gap and outpace the covering full back to dot down for a 5-3 lead at the break.

The game continued to be hotly contested after the break and both sides were soon down to 14 men due to an outbreak of fighting which saw the two combatants asked to take a break to cool off behind the posts.

Slick handling down the line saw winger Simon Blanch pass to hooker Chris Strong loitering on the wing.

He turned on the gas and rounded the Winlaton winger before outpacing the full back to run round behind the posts. Blanch put over the conversion to extend the lead to 12-3.

Castle looked by far the more dangerous side in attack and, despite the continued friction between the packs, every time the Castle backs ran at their Winlaton counterparts, there was an air of expectancy that a further score would come.

It was no surprise when good backs play and a long pass out wide saw winger Blanch feed centre Andrew Seddon on the loop.

He again rounded the hapless Winlaton winger and full back.

Although the opposition huffed and puffed and did manage to put over a further penalty, the Barney try-line was never breached and the 19-6 score was a fair reflection of the relative merits of the teams on the day.

If the side can repeat this performance at Stockton, they must be able to create problems for the hot favourites.

Other results: Barnard Castle 2nds 14 Sunderland 2nds 15; Barnard Castle 3rds 7 Richmond 5.