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19th September 2009
Anchorians v Vigo (Kent 1 League match)
Following last weeks walkover Gillingham Anchorians registered another
win in the Kent 1 league against Vigo RFC.
Vigo put up a strong defence and a classic Anchorians battle was seen by the
spectators at the Darland Avenue ground. Vigo kicked off with the A’s playing
into a slight headwind. And very quickly they were in the mix. The impressive
front row of Alistair Parker, Paul Knight and Pat Richardson were again very
strong in the scrummages forcing the Vigo pack backward at every opportunity
which bought early signs of frustration into the Vigo pack and an early penalty
was conceded. Craig Webb kicked for touch but the ball was intercepted by a
keen Vigo winger who returned the ball into the A’s 22. Webb picked up the
loose ball, passed out to Anthony O’Brien who took the ball infield making 15
yards before popping the ball to Skipper Adam Davison. Full back Ryan Dowling
picked up the pass from Davison before kicking the ball to touch well into the
opposition half. From the line out the A’s started a rolling maul using the
impressive power of the forward to slowly march the Vigo team toward there own
score line with Vigo managing to collapse the maul with just 7 metres to go.
A’s continued the pressure with scrum half Rob Small lifting the ball out from
the collapsed the maul feeding back to Phil Dedman who took the ball at pace
forcing his way through the defensive line getting to within 1 metre of the
line. The consistent pressure of the Anchorian attack forced errors by Vigo who
conceded a penalty. Anch’s were now well and truly in the driving seat and
quick ball from the penalty found Parker who charged into the line popping the
ball out to winger Davison who charged into the Vigo scoring zone registering
an unconverted try in the corner.
At the re-start Vigo kicked the ball straight into touch giving A’s the line
out. Play then seemed to stall midfield with both teams making impressive runs
good defensive work finally leading to a penalty against the A’s 37 metres from
the their try line. Vigo Fly Half stepped up and opted to attempt the kick and
despite having the distance lacked the accuracy to register their first points
of the day. From the drop out A’s forced the opposition back into their own
half where they stayed with A’s using the rolling maul at every opportunity to
sap the strength from the Vigo forwards. Finally a backs move bought sufficient
pressure to force Vigo to touch down behind their own line for a 5 yard scrum.
The ball was pulled out by Small and found O’Brien who charged in toward the
Vigo being stopped by three tacklers just one yard from the line with turnover
ball being kicked clear by the panicking defence. Webb returned the kick which
was swept up by the chasing forwards and another rolling maul was started with
Richardson holding the ball. Inexorably the maul rolled on until Richardson
managed to squeeze the ball down registering A’s second un-converted try.
Vigo were revitalised following the swift team talk and came back at the A’s
with renewed vigour coming back with lots of pressure and keeping the play in
the A’s half with the ball continually being re-cycled until the fly half fed
the ball out to the winger who squeezed through the A’s defence to register 5
points beneath the posts. The try was unconverted. The second half was much of
the same with short bursts of impressive play by both teams. A’s seemed to be
playing mostly in their own half but the defensive work continued to good
effect but despite with three more penalty attempts by Vigo, all of which
failed to register points. Vigo were now looking the strongest in attack. Their
backs were now piling into the action with only excellent defence from Davison
and Dave Hadris stopping them from making a score. Hadris intercepted a loose
pass from Vigo and turned play to charge back into their half before popping
the ball to a chasing Davison as he was tackled. Davison continued the run
before being bundled into touch. The line out was won by A’s who fed the ball
out to find Andy Pritchard registering A’s third unconverted try. Vigo
retaliated with a second converted try to bring the final score to 15-12. A
narrow win but it showed the determination of the A’s to maintain their
promotion race this year.
Anchorians Man of Match was Dave Hadris for being a persistent pain in the neck
to the opposition.
Captain Adam Davison stated ‘I am really proud of the team. Today they played
like Anchorians; they played like they wanted the win. Last week was easy,
today we played a team who wanted a game and the win was well deserved.’
Next league game Saturday 26 September at Erith.
Touchline pundits comments: -
‘Another exciting game. Full of excitement from the first whistle to the last.
I am looking forward to seeing them take on Erith next week; it should be
another exciting game.’
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