We started the season with 12 girls, 6 of them joining us for the new season which started at Bishop Auckland for the 1st festival of the year. With the new girls finding their feet in a new environment, they got off to a slightly nervous start but coming through the 1st game to pick up a close win versus Houghton, which was followed up by 3 defeats by 1st Ryton, then Gateshead & Stockton followed by Hartlepool Rovers, Billingham & Bishop but finished the day on a high by defeating Blaydon & Barney in their final game.

This was followed by another 2 festivals, firstly at Blaydon for the Durham festival, which they performed very well in difficult conditions winning 3 of the 5 games but losing 2. The girls enjoyed sliding in the large puddle of mud afterwards. Then at Hartlepool Rovers for the second festival which was again played in very wet conditions, but the girls won all 3 games they played. It was clear their confidence had started to grow, and they started to bond as a team.

The following weeks saw wins against Rovers, Blaydon, Houghton and our final game of 2019 against Ripon at home which we also won. In the middle of the sequence of games saw a festival at Gateshead which saw the girls win 2 out of the 3 games. This period saw another 5 girls join the team and their bond grew stronger.

The first game of 2020 was a victorious home game versus Penrith, which was unusual for us as it was played on a Saturday as we arrange for our visitors to stay and watch the Sharks play post-match. Game time was difficult to come by over the following weeks and months due to the typical British weather which saw us play only 2 games between January and the 1st of March both of which we won.

Our final games of the season, were played during our home festival which saw us take on Hartlepool Rovers, Blaydon, Gateshead, Stockton & Barney and Houghton, we came through victorious in all 5 games which was a pleasing way to end the season on and gave us a record of 27 played with 21 wins, 6 defeats, scoring 250 tries along the way.

Tim Longstaff