29th August 2009

Anchorians II XV   7        Old Williamsonians I  29 

A new season has started and Anchorians II team first run out was a friendly trial game against Old Williamsonians at Anchorians home ground. The game started at a fast pace and Old Williamsonians put the pressure on from the 1^st whistle. It was only good defence from Anchorians back row who held them back from scoring. Then with Anchorians 1^st visit to the oppositions 22, a powerful drive from the forward pack pushed a maul over the in to allow Gareth Knight a try, Richie Collins Converted.

Old Williamsonians seemed to dominate the rest of the half and a loose kick from Anchorians gave their speedy winger just enough room to get around the outside & equalise the score.

Changes in the Anchorians front row helped strengthen the scrum but it wasn’t enough to stop Old Williamsonians adding to the scores. There was some great play from Anchorians during parts of the game, notably from Kane, Lewis, Justin, Gareth, Richie & Tim.

Old Williamsonians went on to win the game well but Anchorians feel that the foundations for the season is  there.

Next week Anchorians II host another trial game against Folkestone with a 15.00  K.O. and look forward to more support on the sidelines.

5th September 2009

Anchorians II      15      Folkestone IV      14

A much better performance from Anchorians this week even though they had last minute changes due to an injury during the warm up, forced some swapping about in the backs.

Folkestone started the game very strongly and kept the pressure on Anchorians for long periods of time and it was only a spilt ball from the Folkestone forwards that gave Anchorians the chance of a counter attack. The ball flew through the backs hands and out wide to debut winger Keith White who sped past his opposite man only to be tackled a metre from the line by the Folkestone fullback. But he wasn’t finished and held the ball out and popped it into the air for Carl Brooks to take it cleanly and put down in the corner for the 1^st set of points of the game. Folkestone continued to fight back and it was only a strict defence and aggressive tackling from players such as Mike Cooper, Dan Begley and Joe Granger that kept Folkestone from scoring.

After half time Anchorians found themselves 5 metres from the Folkestone try line and with the referee awarding a scrum to the Home side, Anchorians could see an opportunity for more points. The forwards pushed with such force that the Folkestone pack were pushed back over their own line and Mike Cooper controlled the ball at the back of the advancing pack well to score Anchorians 2^nd try.

Again Folkestone put on the pressure and spent a lot of time camped in the Anchorians 22, yet they still had trouble crossing the line. Folkestone started to use their territorial advantage and slotted over a drop goal to give them some well deserved points. It was only a further five minutes before Folkestone scored another drop goal this time from behind the 22 line. This seemed to spur on Folkestone and it wasn’t long before their backs were running hard at Anchorians and even though there was some good defence from Luke Murphy and Capt Dishman, Folkestone got the ball out wide and scored a try in the corner. Anchorians could see the clock counting down and with only one point in it at this point (10-11) they started to run everything back at Folkestone but this only forced errors and it was in the last five minutes of the game that Folkestone were awarded a penalty and put the score to 10-14.

With only a minute of the game left Anchorians got good quality ball from their forwards and spun the ball wide and it was Luke the vision Murphy who had the 2 on 1 overlap but instead decided to chip straight to the fullback (thanks). The Folkestone full back put his boot to the ball and cleared it off of the pitch, but Keith White wasn’t going to give up and took a quick line out to veteran Carl super Cooper who sprinted the last few metres (35 metres according to the stories in the bar later that evening) to score a try in the corner and win the game by a single point.

This game was a hard played game and could have been won by either side. It was difficult to choose a man of the match today with some very good performances by everyone but under the circumstances the entire Anchorians pack shared the man of the match award. Anchorians II’s next week have another friendly match against Thanet III at Anchorians home ground.

12th September 2009

After last weeks success today was a big reality check for Anchorians as Thanet taught Anchs a few lessons in quality rugby. Anchorians seemed to play the entire 1^st half of the game asleep and Thanet used this advantage to run in several trys at will. Thanet were able to keep the ball tight with their forwards and on several occasions were seen slowly marching down the pitch, ball safely tucked away, out of Anchs reach. Then the ball would be spun wide and Thanet would run past a depleted Anchs back line to score. Just before half time Anchs had an opportunity to score when Fly half Nigel Fray got some quality ball and the anchs Backs were able to attack for once, it was only the final pass that didn’t quite go to hand and the opportunity was lost.

The second half was a lot better from Anchs and they started to compete around the park, the forwards were able to control Thanets rolling mauls and started to create space for the backs. Substitute Flanker Phil Dedman came on to the pitch and within minutes made an impact as he intercepted a loose pass and sprinted 40 yards only to be tackled 3 metres short of the line. Yet Thanet kept up the pressure and the game was already lost as far as Anchorians were concerned.

Nigel Fray was Anchorians man of the match for his dogged defence and determination.

Next week Anchorians have their 1^st league game away to Vigo II and even though today’s result was disappointing the team still have belief that they have the potential and ability to do well in this encounter.