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The club’s tough weekend on the road
Tony Porter6 Oct - 15:37
Away and trying hard
The nightmare scenario of getting to the Rugby Welsh ground was of astronmic proportion and we were right to allow plenty of time to get there. The usual large away following was somewhat diminished, as lots of other distractions were in place, like holidays, weddings and our lovely farmers, catching the last few days of sunny weather, before the winter sets in.
We had taken a couple of severe beatings from Welsh last season, and Fordy had the boy's fired up and we were hopeful of no repeat.
It was a lovely day for rugby, and when Charlie Munro put a long kick into the home sides in goal area, Boy Wilson-Fitzgerald raced after it, and despite being well behind the Welsh defender, he acrobaticly dived through and got the all important touch, to claim the try. Munro was unsuccessful with the conversion, but the confidence was now sky high.
A series of mistakes then allowed Welsh to capitalise and they scored a seven pointer, and the wind was taken out of our sales.
A Munro penalty then gave us back the initiative, and this initiated some excellent flowing rugby, and we were stretching the large Welsh side, Ricky Hughes hit the line at pace and scored a terrific try for the second week running. Charlie upgraded, and we were showing great team skills and we couldn't believe our eyes when after another flowing move Boy raced over for his second of the afternoon, Charlie slotted and we were 22-7 in front.
Calm heads and good game management was now required, unfortunately from the restart we failed to look after the ball and Welsh used their powerful forwards to surge over for a converted try.
We lost the physical presence of second row James Stone to a nasty head knock, but the lad's refused to buckle and the now usual sight of Jensen Cullen rampaging like an out of control rhino saw us end the half with a bonus point try, no conversion, but we led 27-24 .
The home side regrouped during the break, and they decided to keep things tight and allow their huge pack to wear us down. This worked well for them, and from a position of strength, we found ourselves defending for our lives. The penalty count started to grow, and Welsh score three converted try's and kicked a penalty. We were in a state of shock, and had seen our advantage destroyed and we now trailed 27-38.
A sickening head injury to Joe Watt, who was having a great game, then held up the game for fifteen minutes as he received intense treatment. Thankfully Joe was able to walk from the pitch with aide, but did go off to A&E, for further assessment.
The break seemed to galvanise our boy's, and we attacked with menace, enabling Will Grindal to force his way over, and with Charlie adding the extras, we were now back to within four points.
There couldn't be long left, and the team were now giving everything they had, and were certainly emptying the tank. We pressed and pressed, and with the final play of the match, the backs implemented a training ground move, Harry initiating an overlap for what appeared to be a run in for the electric pace of Matty Stuart, however, the last defender slapped the ball down, denying what would have surely been the winning score. The referees whistle blew, what was the decision? Penalty try? Just a penalty?......unfortunately neither, just a knock on, resulting in a scrum, but with time up, no time for the scrum, and the match ended in defeat 34-38.
Two points in the bag, but a mixture of emotions, great effort against a very good Welsh side, disappointment at not seeing the game out when in a great position. But the overriding hope is that Joe is given the all clear.
Lots of positives though, and our strength in depth is starting to increase, we're now getting into really good area's of the pitch, and scoring some lovely try's, whereas in the past we were unable to capitalise, I'm sure our continuing improvement will continue.
Next week we're at home to league leaders Broadstreet.
We had taken a couple of severe beatings from Welsh last season, and Fordy had the boy's fired up and we were hopeful of no repeat.
It was a lovely day for rugby, and when Charlie Munro put a long kick into the home sides in goal area, Boy Wilson-Fitzgerald raced after it, and despite being well behind the Welsh defender, he acrobaticly dived through and got the all important touch, to claim the try. Munro was unsuccessful with the conversion, but the confidence was now sky high.
A series of mistakes then allowed Welsh to capitalise and they scored a seven pointer, and the wind was taken out of our sales.
A Munro penalty then gave us back the initiative, and this initiated some excellent flowing rugby, and we were stretching the large Welsh side, Ricky Hughes hit the line at pace and scored a terrific try for the second week running. Charlie upgraded, and we were showing great team skills and we couldn't believe our eyes when after another flowing move Boy raced over for his second of the afternoon, Charlie slotted and we were 22-7 in front.
Calm heads and good game management was now required, unfortunately from the restart we failed to look after the ball and Welsh used their powerful forwards to surge over for a converted try.
We lost the physical presence of second row James Stone to a nasty head knock, but the lad's refused to buckle and the now usual sight of Jensen Cullen rampaging like an out of control rhino saw us end the half with a bonus point try, no conversion, but we led 27-24 .
The home side regrouped during the break, and they decided to keep things tight and allow their huge pack to wear us down. This worked well for them, and from a position of strength, we found ourselves defending for our lives. The penalty count started to grow, and Welsh score three converted try's and kicked a penalty. We were in a state of shock, and had seen our advantage destroyed and we now trailed 27-38.
A sickening head injury to Joe Watt, who was having a great game, then held up the game for fifteen minutes as he received intense treatment. Thankfully Joe was able to walk from the pitch with aide, but did go off to A&E, for further assessment.
The break seemed to galvanise our boy's, and we attacked with menace, enabling Will Grindal to force his way over, and with Charlie adding the extras, we were now back to within four points.
There couldn't be long left, and the team were now giving everything they had, and were certainly emptying the tank. We pressed and pressed, and with the final play of the match, the backs implemented a training ground move, Harry initiating an overlap for what appeared to be a run in for the electric pace of Matty Stuart, however, the last defender slapped the ball down, denying what would have surely been the winning score. The referees whistle blew, what was the decision? Penalty try? Just a penalty?......unfortunately neither, just a knock on, resulting in a scrum, but with time up, no time for the scrum, and the match ended in defeat 34-38.
Two points in the bag, but a mixture of emotions, great effort against a very good Welsh side, disappointment at not seeing the game out when in a great position. But the overriding hope is that Joe is given the all clear.
Lots of positives though, and our strength in depth is starting to increase, we're now getting into really good area's of the pitch, and scoring some lovely try's, whereas in the past we were unable to capitalise, I'm sure our continuing improvement will continue.
Next week we're at home to league leaders Broadstreet.
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