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Writtle Wanderers RUFC |
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Writtle Wanderers RUFC |
April 2006 Match Reports
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1st April 2006
Sorry, no report submitted...
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With the team already aware that promotion had been guaranteed a couple of games ago, Writtle Wanderers travelled to May & Baker in the knowledge that title rivals, Dagenham, were making a tricky journey to Millwall with a 45 point cushion to defend. It was therefore essential that the Writtle side put on an impressive performance and racked up the points, hoping that Dagenham would either slip up or be held to a close margin by the boys at Victoria Park.
However, as has been a problem on several occasions this season, the men in Orange failed to get into gear for the kick off and gave away the first score to their hosts in the first 5 minutes. Fortunately this galvanized the visitors and they were able to make use of their pacey backline and get the scoreboard ticking.
Despite many unforced errors and spilt balls, the backs ran riot with Adam Jones helping himself to five. Steve Clark and Tim Janes both scored their 20th tries of the season and Clark put on a superb kicking display, potting 12 out of 14 conversion attempts! The rest of the tries were shared around the forwards and backs, with Paul Read picking up the Man of the Match award.
Chasing points in the second half, and therefore running many balls from deep in their own half, Writtle gave away several soft scores. At the final whistle, the margin of victory was 65 points and concern turned to how Dagenham had faired at Millwall. Club Fixtures Secretary, Martyn Howarth, was on the phone to his Millwall opposite number, Ryan Kuleszka, as the final whistle went at Victoria Park. The score was confirmed as a 17 to 8 point victory for Dagenham, and following a quick bit of abacus work, Writtle were delighted to realise that they had won the Essex 2 title by the narrow margin of 11 points!
Four years since being founded, and in only the second season of league rugby, Writtle Wanderers have made it into Essex 1. This achievement is quite exceptional - in fact it may well be unique - and there is no reason why the club cannot continue to roll the momentum on for next year! A bit of hard work over the summer, and 2006/7 could prove to be just as big!
No report submitted...
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15th April 2006
Another week and another game against Maldon at the home of
rugby. Upon arriving at the game many of the near capacity crowd were surprised
to see flying winger Lloyd Hariram sporting a new haircut incorporating a go
faster stripe! Reports before kick off also suggested that Colm Coyle had let
Gareth Frensham borrow his hands from the week before, with Frensham proceeding
to drop the ball the first couple of times it came his way. This only resulted
in increasing the distress of his watching son, who was soon calmed down at half
time with the promise of a McDonalds after the game courtesy of Dad, from Coyle
and Williams!
The opening exchanges saw Colin Jones run in two early tries courtesy of some
superb running from Matt Morris, who had obviously had his Weetabix on the
morning of the game. With Dick Battye slotting both of the kicks Writtle soon
found themselves 14-0 up and momentarily switched off allowing Maldon to surge
back into the game and reduce the deficit to 14-12.
However the home side soon began to take control of the game once again. Some
excellent running by Battye saw Writtle begin to push their opponents backwards
and the third try of the afternoon was run in by Lee Amman. This was followed by
another well taken try scored by scrum half Will Young, with Battye again
converting both tries.
The second half saw the introduction of Bernard Denenga and Donal Staunton due
to injuries to Colm Coyle and Mark Dempsey respectively. Denenga proceeded to
score with his first touch of the afternoon, and fellow sub Staunton finished
off nice Writtle handling by sliding over in the corner. With Battye taking his
tally to 6 out of 6 for the afternoon with an impressive last conversion Writtle
ran out comfortable winners.
A good win as the season draws to an end, with notable performances from Morris,
Young and Battye. The after match celebrations followed the usual pattern of a
night out with players retiring to the Plough, followed by the traditional
Subway!
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22nd April 2006
On probably the warmest day of the season, a large number of Writtle Wanderers assembled at Fox Burrows Lane for their final two home games of the season. Before the matches got underway, a few team photos were organised - hopefully for publication in Rugby World and other magazines over the next month or so. Once all these were out of the way, the focus should have switched back to the games, but as has happened several times this season, the 1st XV did not seem to be fully fired up to take on the only side to beat us last year!
With a few regular faces missing and with something of a makeshift pack, Writtle were under pressure in the set pieces for most of the game. The scrummage in particular struggled and the lineouts were a bit hit and miss with Canvey once again showing their skill at the shortened lineout. However, with some typically physical defence and quick feet out wide, the home side were able to compete with the Islanders for the first quarter.
The second quarter saw Canvey play some excellent rugby, getting the ball away in the tackle and stretching the Writtle defence to breaking point. Eventually they were able to find their way through and take the lead. With Canvey operating with rolling subs (something that skipper Tim Janes had agreed to before realising that Writtle did not actually have any subs), the visitors were able to keep bringing on fresh legs to mount wave after wave of attack. The Wanderers' defensive display was full of heart and commitment, but after being stretched across the field several times, it inevitably allowed another Canvey try through.
The half time team talk by Dave McKenna emphasized that Writtle were not that far from competing with Canvey. A little more direction in attack and better protection of the ball would enable the backs to start to show their pace. With several positional changes in the pack, in an attempt to stop the scum wheeling, Robin Wallbank was able to break off a scrum and charge down a Canvey clearance. Janes was the first to react and scooped up the loose ball to go in for Writtle's first try. Steve Clark put over a comfortable conversion and Writtle now had some belief that they could work their way back into the game.
However, despite a much improved showing in the second half, with Ben Campion, Tommy Young and John Smillie all carrying the ball well, the home side continued to give away too much ball and allow Canvey to come back at them. The visitors were able to run in two or three more tries before the final whistle.
The Writtle club now look forward to their end of season tour to Slovenia, and know that a lot of hard work will need to be done over the Summer as they prepare for Essex 1 rugby next season...
On a beautiful spring afternoon Writtle played the last game
of a successful season against a Thurrock side they had narrowly lost to back in
the autumn. The hot weather and pre-match photographs meant there was a healthy
following at the ground in a partisan atmosphere. With the team photo's taken
care of Writtle set about the business of finishing the season off in style.
The opening exchanges saw the visiting side run in the opening try thanks to a
surging run from their winger, who calmly rounded the Writtle defence to touch
down in the corner. By this point Writtle had already seen Jeremy Court leave
the field with a blood injury, however I am happy to report there was no lasting
damage and after a 5 minute break to stop the bleeding and check how his hair
looked he rejoined the action! Inspirational captain Gary Hall was not so
fortunate though and left the action with an injury after only five minutes.
Writtle were soon able to take control of the game though and began to run in
the tries. Matt Morris bundled his way over the line in typical fashion
and Donal Staunton finished off some slick handling from the backs to dive over
the line. By this point Writtle were beginning to dominate the set pieces and
with Staunton and Bernard Denenga looking dangerous in the centres they were
able to take control of the game.
Half time saw the introduction of Colm Coyle at inside centre prompting Club
Leviathan Scott Taylor to break into his best air guitar routine! Coyle soon
made his presence known and played his part in one of the tries of the season,
started from Writtle's own 22. A trademark break from Coyle saw him surge
through the challenge and a sublime off load put Denenga through the defence.
With the full back to beat Denenga twisted and turned him inside out before
diving over the line to the delight of the partisan Stella fuelled supporters!
With Thurrock responding with a second try of their own, and a penalty, the game
was not sewn up until final substitute Dave Rowan touched down the final try of
the afternoon running past a series of felled opponents from a considerable
distance.
The afternoon was rounded off by an evening of festivities with the majority of
the club enjoying the warm weather with a relaxing shandy or two outside the
Plough. I'm happy to report that Subway was graced with the presence of the
usual suspects Coyle, Hariram, Sample and Williams although most surprisingly
they all went on their own and at separate times of the night!
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30th April 2006
We arrived at Clacton on Sunday morning with a squad of nine that we had managed to scrape out of bed for an early start! The following people managed to turn up and play:
Colin Jones, Lloyd Hariram, Colm Coyle,
Paul Read, Jon Nicolle, Ant Rantell,
Marc Congdon, Gareth Frensham, Dave Hyett.
The tournament started out with a good 35 - 5 win in our first game, including a
number of great tries. The team displayed some good passing and running
that augured well for the rest of the tournament. However, the second game
was against the "Crazy Gang", an excellent side who went on to lose in the final
of the Cup. We lost this game by around 20 points to 5.
In the third game we made a strong start going three tries up in the first few
minutes. Again this was the product of some excellent running rugby.
However, in the second half we slowed down and ended up losing by a few points.
In the fourth game we were by far the better side and again took a good lead,
and although the opposition came back strongly in the second half, we thought a
conversion by Marc Congdon had given us a 22 - 21 victory. Unfortunately,
the ref forgot to count the conversion and reported the result as a one point
defeat for us!
Our results in the Pool games put us into the Plate Competition, where we were
drawn against Brightlingsea. We put up a good fight with Gareth Frensham scoring
an excellent try to level the scores, but in the end we lost by three tries to
one. On reflection, this was not a bad performance since as Brightlingsea
easily won the final of the Plate.
The Writtle Man of the Tournament was Lloyd Hariram, whose pace was
outstanding. However, in the penultimate game he sustained a nasty
shoulder injury which later proved to be a double fracture of the collar bone.
This is likely to take some time to heal, but we wish him well and hope that
he'll be back to fitness for the new season!
Thanks to everybody who made the effort to play. It was a great day and we
will look forward to next season, when we can hopefully put out an even stronger
side and challenge for the Cup!
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