On a cold but sunny October day, the Sheffield Oaks ran out on to the wet, muddy Maltby pitch for what would turn out to be a challenging friendly match.

First Half

The Oaks started the game well with a good kick-off and chase, and strong defence on Maltby’s first play, however an early scrum led to a Maltby penalty that Si did well to keep from going into touch, only for us to gift the ball straight back.

We then conceded a penalty that the referee went on to reverse. Bryce put us just outside the Maltby 22m line only for the line-out to misfire. Maltby knocked the ball on though and Oaks first attack of note went through a few hands before Conor knocked on when we looked menacing.

From the scrum they cleared but we couldn’t win our second line-out. From there we gave away a penalty at the breakdown which resulted in the first Maltby try. There kicker converted to make it 7-0.

It wasn’t long before the Oaks were defending again and the Maltby #8 picked up from the base of the scrum and broke through on the blindside down the 5m channel and scored; 12-0.

Maltby weren’t able to clear from the restart and the Oaks began to build pressure through some good multi-phase play. Unfortunately a great chance on the left flank ended up with a pass from Jordan getting intercepted. Another try to Maltby and the Oaks were 17-0 down.
Maltby had a couple of big ball carriers in their locks and #8 and the Oaks defence that was fairly robust otherwise was breached a couple of times as the home team went through the phases. Eventually we conceded again to go 22-0 down.

From the Maltby clearance another Oaks line out went awry. After a bit of a kicking battle Maltby got some more good territory and, with some good offloading out of the tackle, were able to run in a fifth try that their kicker managed to convert. 29-0.

The scoreline at half-time felt pretty harsh given that, for the most part, we had defended well with a few big hits and, the interception aside, we’d looked alright ball in hand. The misfiring line-out was an issue that starved us of set-piece ball though and Maltby had managed to turn their decent possession stats into points.

Second Half

The second half started brightly for the Oaks. The Maltby chasers were in front of the kicker at the kick-off and Bryce kicked the resulting penalty into the sloping corner of the pitch. We followed this up by winning the resulting line-out. A second penalty conceded by the home team at the breakdown followed and, after a series of pick and goes from the Oaks forwards, we should have scored; Maltby did well to hold it up.

We managed to keep applying pressure as Maltby conceded another penalty at the breakdown although a loose kick or two gifted Maltby possession and they went up the other end and scored. The conversion was good and we were now 36-0 down.
We dealt with the disappointment of being the better side since the start of the half but conceding again really well by building some good pressure in the Maltby 22. One of Maltby’s newer recruits got himself sin-binned and, from the resulting penalty, French Chris smashed his way over after a quick tap and go. Bryce added the extra two to make it 36-7. We were on the scoreboard at last and deservedly so!

Frustratingly we turned the ball over after the kick-off but fortunately the Maltby scrum-half got himself isolated and gave away another breakdown penalty. Bryce cleared well. We won another line-out and were able to start building some decent pressure. With some textbook narrow play on the first few phases, we sucked the Maltby defence in and then went wide. Bryce scythed through and scored before converting his try; 36-14.

If we thought another stunning come-back was on those hopes were quickly dashed as, from the kick-off, we let the ball bounce, it fell to Maltby player who ran it in. If this wasn’t gutting enough, after some good Oaks play going through the phases, we were turned over at the breakdown and a couple of quick passes led to another Maltby try. The comeback was well and truly stopped in its tracks and we were 46-14 down.

Despite having no subs to call on the Oaks were by far the better side in the second half and, after building some good pressure, a 5m scrum provided the platform for Chris to blast through to score his second try. This score, to make it 46-19, would have meant that we had, at least, won the second half but, with the last play of the game, we conceded once again and the game finished 51-19.

The performance really didn’t merit the scoreline and, as I pointed out over a chip butty after the game, if we overlooked the interception try, the kick-off we let bounce and the breakdown turnover that they ran in it would have been as close as two scores in it. Even so; things to work on going forward are having some depth in the pack for throwing and jumping, and not letting kicks bounce.

MOTM – Conor for seemingly popping up everywhere second half and lifting the lads moral in doing so.
MOTM Mention – Chris for his two tries.
DOTD – Jordan for throwing the pass that was intercepted, leading to a final try.

Written by Tristan Clarke