Morpeth 24pts Blackburn 33

BLACKBURN notched their second victory of the season with an entertaining show in which they always held the advantage.

Man of the man Adam Smith was again the hard tackling link between forwards and backs and as pack leader he stamped his authority on the fixture.

Morpeth were game opposition if somewhat one-dimensional, relying entirely on the strength of their rolling maul, which gave them four identical tries.

The Northumbrians were promoted from north-east division one last season making this an important result as both teams adjust to the higher standard.

The travelling side began strongly, raining in attacks from all quarters of the field and just five minutes had passed when blindside Mike Francis burrowed over after Ethan Gusfa went dangerously close from a line-out.

Nick Westhead converted this to add to a third-minute penalty.

With Scott Foster back in at scrum-half the pack found extra momentum in tight situations and despite allowing Morpeth the luxury of their two first half tries, Blackburn were always in control.

In a sustained period of pressure Morpeth were forced into several poor clearances. From a resulting line-out, number eight Adam Smith caused some damage in the midfield for the ball to be moved swiftly wide, and wingman Ewan Halls claimed the score.

Westhead converted this and added a penalty to make the half time score 20-12.

Blackburn outscored their opponents again in the second half, but this cannot hide the need to rediscover their mean defence.

Assistant coach Andy Rawlinson said: "There are still things to work on, they scored all their points from forward drives. We began like a train but came off the gas at times."

The pick of the backs Craig Aikman playing out of position on the wing, latched on to a Simon Greenhalgh pass to score in the corner.

This went unconverted, but Westhead managed a further penalty.

Blackburn felt able to experiment moving the versatile newcomer Ethan Gusfa to openside with the introduction of Graham McKendry at prop.

Foster rounded off the match with a try in which Adam Smith was again instrumental, giving Blackburn cause for celebration on their long trip home.

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