Preston Grasshoppers 46 Billingham 24: Victory fits the Bill on opening day
Preston Grasshoppers collected all five points in a highly satisfying start to the new National Two North campaign, scoring 20 unanswered points in the last 25 minutes.
“Billingham are a difficult team to play against and they were able to manufacture some mismatches in the first half,” said head coach Dan Orwin.
“I was pleased with the way we adapted as our spacing and line speed got better.
“We scored some good tries and it was nice to pull away like we did at the end.”
Orwin was delighted with the debut of Tom Ailes, labelling him ‘different quality’, and also singled out winger Sam Freeman – not just for his hat-trick of tries but also his excellence in defence.
Remarkably, Freeman wasn’t the only winger to score three tries, opposite number Joe Scarborough doing likewise in just 20 first-half minutes.
The game got off to an emotional start, with hooker Harry Holden claiming the season’s first try only eight minutes after a minute’s silence following the tragic death of his brother.
Although Billingham never held the lead, the game seesawed throughout the first half as Rory Brand’s solo score from a scrum put Hoppers 14-7 up.
Freeman’s first made it 19-12 and Scott Richardson’s try from a typical Sammy Russell break brought it to 26-19 at half-time after Scarborough kept dragging his side back to level terms.
Referee Sam Yates upped the penalty count against both sides after the break, issuing yellow cards to Billingham’s Luke Wilson and Hoppers’ Richardson and Rob Willetts.
The hosts responded to an early try from Arith Jackson to gallop clear with two penalties from Greg Smith and his conversions of Freeman’s second and third tries, adding to his three first-half successes.
Orwin, relishing his squad’s strength in depth, said: “It was nice to get five points in our first game and restrict Billingham to one bonus point.
“Lots of lads are pushing for places in the coming games.”