3rd October 2009

Old Cranlieghans v Anchorians (EDF Cup match)

Anchorians took a 110 mile round trip to Surbiton to play Old Cranlieghans on Saturday in a tight EDF cup match.  The home team kicked off with Anch’s playing into a strong wind. Anch’s looked like the most impressive team from the off with well drilled moves being displayed and strong runs from Phil Dedman, Alistair Parker and Jack Gonsalves leading to an early try by skipper Adam Davison piling over the line at pace to register the first score to Gillingham.  Davison attempted to convert his try but lacked the accuracy to find the posts and the score remained 0-5. 

From the off the home team attempted to fight back with sustained pressure being bought onto the Anchorians line but sterling defensive work kept them at bay and forced many mistakes by the home team.  Finally forcing a penalty Craig Webb kicked the ball well into the home team half and relieved the pressure on the A’s line.  While the ball failed to find touch good chasing by brothers Ben and Adam Davison forced a quick kick to touch which made little distance.  The home team took the line out and quickly ran the ball back into the Anch’s half; reaching the A’s line they pushed on and got over the try line to achieve a score beneath the posts and an easy conversion to put the home team 7-5 in the lead. 

A’s fought back with excellent runs by Ben Davison, George Webb and Paul Evans but the home team turned over the ball resulting in a quick run down the wing which was bought to an abrupt end by a thumping tackle from Paul Knight.  Play swapped ends and a ruck was set up by A’s with the ball popping out to Gonsalves and Andy Pritchard to set up a rolling maul which rumbled over the line to register Anch’s second try which was converted by Craig Webb leaving the score at 7-12 at half time.

The second half started with a bluff kick by Fly-half Webb who managed to kick the ball two yards but the home team decided to play it resulting in a turn over ball and Evans receiving the ball at pace to score a third try for the Anch’s.  The home team retaliated immediately with a cheeky run spotting a gap and using it to great effect to place the ball over the try line for an unconverted try within 60 seconds. Jogging back to their own line they all looked like Disney’s Cheshire Cat. 

The rock hard ground and the previous weeks matches were starting to show effects on both teams with substitutions being made by both parties.  Mark Dishman came on for Evans and Pat Richardson came on for Craig Whitehead.  Within seconds of being on the pitch Dishman was sin-binned for an alleged high tackle (that time is a record within the Anchorians ranks).  Now playing with 14-men the home team pressed the advantage on the A’s line but strong defensive work by the Davison brothers lead to a counter attack but was turned over and a penalty resulted to the home team who opted to kick for the posts.  A successful kick brought it even at 17-17.  Anch’s came back with a second try to Skipper Davison but, following another dubious high tackle call by the official Parker was sin binned for the last 10-minutes and the home team used their knowledge of the ground to good effect and placed another converted try at the Anchorians end to finish the match as 24-22. 

Undoubtedly the match was lost because A’s played for a quarter of the game with only 14 men.  However, the match was lost and A’s walked out of the EDF cup match with confidence that they played well.  It was good to see the return of Ben Davison to the squad, albeit playing with strength and confidence out of position.  Let’s hope that next week’s match against HSBC at home will reverse our fortunes and put us back into winning ways.

Anchorians Man of Match was skipper Adam Davison for taking the ball on and attacking tries.

Head Coach Alex Brown said “Losing is not in my game plan and I can see from the team that they haven’t enjoyed it either.  We suffered from a series of dubious calls from the ref but he can only play what he can see.  We lost because we played with only 14 men for 20 minutes.  No side can sustain that much pressure without conceding points.  We need to get back on the practice field and sort a few issues out but I am confident that next week we will beat HSBC using our own home advantage.”

Captain Adam Davison stated “What can I say, we started really well but were beaten at the end by a team who knew their own ground and the way the pitch plays.  Next week is another game and I am certain that we will be all guns for leather to win it.”

Next week’s game Saturday 10 October at against HSBC in Darland Avenue, Gillingham