24th October 2009
Anchorians v Guys & St Thomas’s Hospital
Following last week’s performance Anch’s
wanted to prove that they were up for it and deserved to be second in the Kent
1 League and boy did they prove it today at the Darland Avenue ground.
Everyone was expecting a fast game as Guys
have a reputation for having the quickest set of backs in the league and very
quickly they demonstrated just how quick they could be with their very
lightweight squad. It was clear that the
visitors wanted a win following their own defeat last week and following A’s
kick off the visitors caught and returned to the A’s half with ball in hand
piling on the pressure which was absorbed by the forwards but not without
forsaking a couple of penalties which Guys used to gain further ground until
they got to within kicking distance and popped the ball through the posts to
register the first points of the game with a penalty kick just of centre from
the posts. A’s came back hard and used a
driving maul to set up the theme for the rest of the match. The maul rolled on like an unstoppable
freight train until it was finally collapsed by the visitors. Turn over ball resulted and Guys kicked the
ball clear of the danger zone using the wind to their favour. Failing to find touch the ball was picked up
by Brett Little who ran the ball up before being bought down. Dave Hadris tided up the loose ball and
making a few more yards popped it to Andy Pritchard who was charging forward
and got to within metres of the try line before being bought crashing to the
ground. Again, turn over ball resulted
when the Referee spotted a penalty for holding on. This gave Guys the opportunity to clear their
lines again with a long kick down field.
Caught by Little the ball was passed to Anthony O’Brien who passed to
Skipper Adam Davison. Making good ground
Davison was bought down; Hadris picked the ball out of the maul and took the
ball on before passing to the ever present Pritchard. Now within scoring distance of the line the
forwards piled over the tackled Pritchard but the ball was knocked on. With our huge weight advantage in the scum
our forwards easily walked through the scrum and spotting a gap Flanker Hadris picked
up the ball and charged through the defence to score a try to the left of the
posts. Leaving a long kick for Richie
Collins to convert Hadris made his way back to his half before turning to watch
Collins slot the ball right through the centre of the posts with a fantastic
kick of 42 metres with a heavy side wind.
Guys took the ball back in to the A’s with along kick to the right hand
corner. Wayne English made and attempts
to catch the ball but the wet conditions forced an error and he knocked the
ball on resulting in a scrum just 5 metres out for Guys. As usual A’s soaked up the pressure with
excellent defence and although they lost the scrum a turn over ball resulted
but again the referee had spotted a misdemeanour and awarded a penalty. Guys opted to run it and taking our defence
by surprise raced over for a try on their right wing. A’s were now behind and
everyone wanted to get back in front and took the ball back into the visitors
half and a penalty was awarded to A’s for a Guys player being offside. Then, with verbal going to the ref they
conceded another 10 metres which O’Brien converted into a line out 7 metres
from the try line. George Webb caught the ball off the top of the line out an
the forwards piled around to start another driving maul with Pat Richardson
carrying the ball over the line to score another try for the home team which
was unconverted. Guys kick off was again
long but went into touch off of an A’s player resulting in a line out deep in
the A’s half. The ball was caught by
Webb and passed to “Mad” Mick McLorn and O’Brien who took the ball on before
passing to Little who, catching the ball at pace broke through the visitors
line and ran 2/3 rds of the length of the pitch to score another try for A’s
just to the left of the posts which was converted by Collins. Again the visitors came back and with
continual pressure on the A’s line forced several errors and finally got to
within kicking distance to register 3-points for a penalty. With the score now 19-8 to the home team the
visitors knew that they had to get back into the match and forced pressure back
at the A’s resulting in penalties galore against the home team. Running the risk of being penalised the riot
act was read to the team by Skipper Davison and play finally stated to get back
on track leading up to end of the first half with a final unconverted try of
the half going to the forwards with a driving maul piling over the line. With
the whistle the score stood at 24-11.
Webb caught the ball at the restart and
quickly passed it to Pritchard who took the ball on using his weight advantage
to good effect before popping it to Hadris who took it on and passed to
Collins. Making good ground the A’s were
flying toward the Guys try line and with Davison running at pace up the
wing the ball reached Webb who tying a
quick tap pass lifted the ball just out of reach of Davison and rolled into
touch just 5 metres away from another score. A’s managed to win the line out
and the ball was taken in again by the forwards but each time they were stopped
by Guys excellent defensive work forcing a knock just 7 metres out. Guys had the put in and with a strong push
A’s forced them to take the ball out to early and Davison, Hadris and Webb
piled into tackle the scrum half. Hadris
Lifted the ball out and passed to Davison who ran the ball in to score another
try for the home team which was converted by Collins. A’s decided to ring some changes and bring on
some fresh legs and Banner-Martin was replaced by Ben Davison and Ryan Dowling
was replaced by Craig Whiting. Play
re-started with the ball being caught by “Mad” Mick who flew up the field
shaking off tackles like there was nothing there before finally being bought
down after making at least 30 metres.
His speed took everyone by surprise, not least of which were our forwards
who were left behind in his wake.
However, the ever reliable Pritchard was there with him and lifted the
ball out before passing to English, Webb and O’Brien before the ref spotted an
infringement and blew up for a penalty to the A’s. Well within kicking distance Collins and
Skipper Davison opted to take the points and another 3 points were on the board
for A’s. Guys weren’t finished yet
though and despite excellent tackles from replacements to Whiting and Davison
they managed to score a try with an excellent interception by the winger who
ran the entire length of the pitch to score a converted try. With just minutes to go A’s were keen to put
another score up before the whistle and Guys gave them opportunity with another
penalty right in front of the posts which was easily scored by Collins. The final score was 37-18.
Anchorians Man of Match was Andy Pritchard
for excellent forward driving moves and for being everywhere on the pitch.
Head Coach Alex Brown said “After last week’s
game a fantastic effort was put in by the entire team. The desire to win was there; some players
were outstanding in bad conditions. The
penalty count was huge for both teams in this game; at the start of the season
we took pride in our discipline and the game has shown that there are some
issues we need to talk to the guys about and address. However, that is just one small negative in
an impressive performance. Today, for me
the forwards were all very good, Andy Pritchard was outstanding and easily was
man of the match today. Mick McLorn also deserves special mention for his
performance, he really stepped it up today.
All the boys put it in; we all hurt as much as the opposition.”