A good afternoons work by all, a much needed 27~10 win over Tiverton who were a couple of places above us in the league.
The key to this was early pressure and drive that put Tiverton on the back foot just about from the off.
Inside five minutes a try, Matt Anstis did a long kick that was sliced but fortunately it was close enough to the sideline that it bounced out just short of their line. A good line out take and the forward’s drove, unfortunately the ball carrier got left behind and they managed to turn the ball over. A scrum to them and we stole the ball, Matt Gregory came off the back of the scum made a yard or two down the short side then passed to Matt Anstis who beat three defenders to score by the south flag, the conversion was missed. Quite why Matt was on the wing I can’t say but it worked out.
Five minutes later and Tiverton were ten points down in as many minutes. Matt Anstis kicked long from a penalty, we won the lineout inside their twenty two and the forwards trundled along, were stopped and let the ball go to Ben McGowan who with very little space to play with was strong enough to knock through two defenders to score. Again the conversion was missed.
We had a fair bit of pressure on their line but the Tiverton defence held well, on the twenty seventh minute Tiverton scored, a simple move along the line a missed tackle and the ball went to Tom Heard who had the easiest of run ins to score, conversion missed. 10~5.
Thirty three minutes on the clock and we got down on to their line and had three or four attacks and won a scum on their line, it went to a maul which we drove forward, unfortunately we were penalised and they were able to kick out.
They threw long and the only person to catch it was scrum half Luke Stannard who made good ground well into their twenty-two and won a penalty. Matt Anstis popped it over for a 13~5 lead. With the half coming to an end Tiverton got right down on to our line when the ball went out, had they scored it would have made for a tight second half. We won the lineout but they stole the ball off us, we managed to get it back and kick out. So ended the half.
Tiverton had their chances to close the gap but our defence was good enough, for us a good dynamic half, may be we should have scored one more try but at 13~5 it looked hopeful for a win if we carried on as we were.
The second half kicked off, for some reason we seemed to sit back and let Tiverton come at us, it gave then a glimmer of hope but only a glimmer.
A line out well in our half was won, Luke Stannard made a half hearted dummy but got away with it and shot through the gap in their line and made good yards nearly to their twenty two, we played the ball on a bit further then Matt Anstis put in a long kick that unfortunately went over the dead ball line.
From the scrum they put in a neat long grubber kick well into our twenty-two. They won the line out and attacked our line, we defended it and stole the ball off them and kicked away.
Awhile later they won a scum on their ten-meter line, a crippling drive by our forwards and we stole the ball off them, Matt kicked for the line on the north side we won the line out.
and on twenty six we won a penalty not far off the posts and nearly half way out, the experts on the side line thought he should have taken the three points, he didn’t he went for the corner. Well taken by the forwards who drove at the line a number of times, Tiverton defended it well so we sent it to the three quarters ending with Kelli B, he chose to take on the three defenders and was tackled short by one but was long enough in the arm to put the ball over the line by a few inches. Again the wise ones on the sidelines thought he should have passed to Ben McGowan on the overlap. Matt Anstis converted. 20~5.
By this time the game was all but lost to Tiverton. Then from the restart Ben McGowan caught the ball and made a lovely run at them, the ball went through a couple more hands to Callum Perkins who went over with one defender for company. Matt Anstis converted and that was it, 27~5 and as far as we were concerned game over.
But not for Tiverton who repeated their early effort this time with the other winger J. Newman who ran in unopposed on an overlap. The conversion was missed and the game really was won with the referees whistle. A win and a bonus point.
I don’t want to begrudge Tiverton their tries because they were good and simple ones, they can only play what we put in front of them but to be honest we should never have allowed them to score.
The Man of the match award was an unusual one in that it went to the front row who really took the Tiverton pack apart, Joe Daley, Phil Wilson, Sean Dunn and Pete Farrow, it was not unusual just because it was the forwards but because Sean Dunn also won the dick of the day. Something to do with a poor April fools joke, you will have to ask him about it.