14th November 2009
Old Olavians v Anchorians
Following last week’s defeat at Dartford the A’s were keen to get back into
winning ways today. In the eye of the
worst storm of the year it was clear that it was going to be difficult. To start with the match had to be moved to a
reserve pitch as the game pitch was flooded; and then there was the wind,
easily gusting to 70mph it bought both teams problems with high kicks.
The home team kicked off and had the majority of the ball for the first
10-minutes until turn over ball lead to a trademark dash by Craig Webb through
the home team to score a try for A’s in the corner. The gusting winds blew Anthony O’Brien’s ball
off course and he narrowly missed the extra two points. A’s now wanted to
consolidate the score line and kept the pressure on the line with Andy
Pritchard and Alistair Parker being forceful up front. However, slow ball at the breakdown proved to
be a step too far and O’s consistently made good by taking turnover ball and
forcing errors allowing penalties to be awarded in their favour. A’s tried desperately to get back into the
groove and the forwards in particular were right in the face of the opposition
with Wayne English, Andy Pritchard and ‘Mad’ Mick McLorn putting their bodies
on the line in an effort to secure the ball for A’s. Despite the wind the home team did try the
occasional high ball but swift running by the backs, Rocky McDonald, Ben
Davison, Tim Banner-Martin and Adam Davison ensured that the ball carried back
at the opposition at pace but failed to secure additional points. Strong line outs and scrums kept the O’s at
bay but they maintained the pressure on the A’s try line and eventually the
pressure paid off with Mad Mick being penalised just in front of the posts
resulting in an easy kick for 3-points to the home team. Now with just 2 points separating them the
home team felt rejuvenated and were confident with ball in hand. Consistently A’s were losing the ball at the
breakdown with what seemed and age for the ball to be lifted clear and at half
time the score remained 3-5.
During the break A’s substituted McLorn for Craig Whiting who just minutes
before had dislocated his finger while warming up. With his fingers strapped together the second
half started with A’s kicking off straight to the home team 22 yard box. Despite his aching fingers Whiting was first
there to force the O’s to knock on and a scrum was awarded to the A’s. As the scrum was set and the ball was just
about to go in the Referee spotted an infringement and awarded a penalty to the
O’s giving them the opportunity to clear their lines and return the ball to the
A’s half. The combination of wet ball
and high winds caused full back A Davison to drop the ball and another scrum
was set in O’s favour. This time we won
it through the power of our forwards and ‘George’ Webb lifted the ball and came
charging out from the back of the scrum to take the ball back to the O’s before
being bought down after making a few yards.
Once again, slow ball enabled the home to reset and when the ball
eventually came out they were waiting and came back with a vengeance, tackling hard
and forcing knock on’s and penalties in their favour. A’s were trying everything in their
repertoire to get back into scoring mode.
Using Richie Kyle to good effect in the line outs A’s were consistently
coming out on top and had started using the rolling mauls to good effect,
making ground rapidly. On several
occasions they made it to within inches of the line but once collapsed slow
ball let them down and turnover occurred.
Eventually the ultimate price was paid with a try being achieved by the
home team which was not converted. With
the score now 8-5 A’s were well and truly on the back foot desperately back
pedalling to guard their lines against further points by the O’s. Eventually we got back into their half and
with consistent pressure managed to get back to within scoring range of a
rolling maul. The only way this was
going to be stopped was by collapsing it and suffer a penalty which was the
action taken by the home team. A’s were
taken back to 5-yards out and Parker picked the ball up and the forwards piled
in. Directed by Hadris the team slowly
moved on until they got over the line and the ball was popped in by Paul Knight
for the second try which was again unconverted.
Now at 8-10 the O’s sensed defeat and came back fighting hard managing
to pop the ball over the score line for a second try which was well converted
from a distance by their fly half. With
just minutes to go the game had started to hot up. A’s knew that they couldn’t afford another
defeat and with inexorable pressure the whole team piled forward finally setting
up another rolling maul which was converted into points by Hadris who laid the
ball down just to the left of the posts.
With the score now level at 15-15 the pressure was on O’Brien for the
conversion. A’s needed the points to
secure the win. It seemed like the Gods
of rugby were on our side because the wind seemed to drop just as he took the
kick and the ball sailed gracefully through the posts for a successful 2-point
kick. With just 30-seconds left on the clock
the home team tried a long kick but only managed to find the dead ball zone and
the referee blew for the end of the game.
With the final score 15-17 A’s had managed to pull off a win against a
tough team. Not an exciting game to
watch at times but in the end, nail biting.
Anchorians Man of Match was Richie Kyle for excellent work in the line out and
scrum.
Head Coach Alex Browne said ‘’I
am massively proud of the guys. They had
their backs to the wall on several occasions in appalling conditions and being
5-points down toward the end of the game they kept their heads up and were
rewarded with a last minute try.
O’Brien’s conversion to seal the game was fantastic against a very
strong Olavians team.”
The first team have a rest next weekend and the next league game is on Saturday
28 November at the Darland Avenue pitch against Sittingbourne.
Reported by Clive Davison