2nd January 2010
Anchorians vs Vigo
Playing into the setting sun A’s were looking for a convincing win today to
lift the New Year spirits. However, Vigo
had also had plans which didn’t involve registering a loss and managed to
convert that into the necessary points for the win.
A’s accepted the ball from kick
off with Adam ‘George’ Webb plucking the ball from the air only to be tackled
straight to ground by the pacey back line of Vigo. Whilst A’s retained possession it wasn’t for
long after a quick grubber kick from scrum half Rob Small was intercepted and
Vigo ran the ball down the A’s right wing before being bundled into touch by a
powerful tackle from Dave Hadris for the first line out of the game. Webb took the ball off the top of the line
out and a rolling maul was set up making good ground until Small lifted the
ball out and quickly passed it to fly half Richie Collins who popped it to
winger Brett Little in the hope of injecting some pace. Little attempted a
cheeky chip and chase but it was intercepted by the home team and once again
A’s forward march was stymied. Play
continued midfield until a penalty by the home team enabled A’s to make some
good ground with a penalty kick.
Unfortunately this kick became the model for most of A’s penalties and
failed to find touch landing squarely into the arms of the home team winger who
at pace took the back to half way before knocking the ball on in a tackle. The
scrummage was won by A’s and the ball was passed to Collins and quickly fed to
Little who ran into score the first try of the game beneath the posts which was
successfully converted by Collins. Vigo
came back strong using the sun to good advantage with high kicks and quick
runs. A’s maintained possession wherever
they could but good moves were being penalised by the referee and A’s seemed to
be consistently on the back foot in their own half. With strong home support on the A’s left wing
Vigo seemed to find the ear of the match official and this was reflected by the
seemingly endless string of decisions against A’s. However, we absorbed the pressure and were
eventually rewarded with a penalty for offside which Collins managed to convert
into a further 3-points. From the
restart Whiting took the ball on making fast ground, supported by Dave Hadris
who took a huge belt on the nose causing him to be substituted by Phil
Dedman. Dedman had a some impact coming
out of the scrum with ball in hand but this was quickly recognised by the home
team and the door was quickly and firmly closed. With swift feet Vigo were soon back in the
A’s half and with another penalty against them Vigo popped the ball through the
posts to score three points. A’s tried
to keep momentum forward but each time they were thwarted by the Vigo defence
and eventually their winger popped over the line to score a converted try
making the score level at 10-10. Strong
defensive work by Kenton Parbuck, Ben Davison, Adam Davison, Craig Whiting,
Alistair Parker, Wayne English and Andy Pritchard kept the home team out for
the rest of the half with the score at half time being 10-10.
Now with the sun in their favour
A’s were hoping for some advantage but it seems the great gods of rugby had
other ideas and clouds obscured any glare.
Vigo came out strong and put real pressure on the A’s side but sterling
defence kept them at bay with scrum after scrum being successfully being won by
the forwards. Similarly line outs were
working successfully with hooker Ricky Deamer proving very accurate with his
throws which were caught well by Webb and Richie Kyle which in turn were
converted into rolling mauls making good ground. Using the rolling maul A’s got to within 5
metres of the score line when it was collapsed by the Vigo defence for a
penalty which surprisingly awarded to the home team allowing them to clear
their lines. Shortly after this Webb was
binned for a minor misdemeanour and A’s were left with 14 men for
10-minutes. Whilst we managed to hold
out during this period we simply couldn’t place the ball down over the home
team try line so more changes were made with Pritchard replaced by Dan Perry
and Parbutt replaced by Chris Everest.
Whilst these changes made some effect Vigo dropped another converted try
and penalty to finish the match 20-10.
Anchorians Man of Match was Craig Whiting.
Reported by Clive Davison