 |
Writtle Wanderers RUFC |
|
|
Writtle Wanderers RUFC |
December 2005 Match Reports
----------
3rd December 2005
Sorry - no report submitted...
Sorry - no report submitted...
----------
10th December 2005
On a windless, muddy day, Writtle set out to compete with a Burnham side looking to make good use of their home advantage. A win for Writtle would leave them just 2 points behind top spot in the table, with half the season gone.
In Writtle's favour was the fact that Burnham had been putting in the pie work. While the Burnham pack was a good deal bigger that the svelte Writtle forwards, their backs found themselves totally lacking penetration throughout the match and consistently stretched whenever the ball found its way away from the rucks and mauls. The Writtle pack also found themselves at the breakdown in greater numbers than the opposition, leaving their opposite numbers puffing around the field.
After some great rucking and penetrative runs, Writtle
fullback, Steve Clark, was set up for a penalty kick which he duly kicked.
Burnham answered with a penalty of their own, which left the match at 3 - 3
after five minutes. Within 2 minutes of the restart, a quick series of
passes down the right wing and a great ruck from the pack, set up John Nicolle
to push over the line near the right corner to opening Writtle's try account.
Burnham were clearly riled, and started putting in a few late hits and some
dirty work in the front trenches. This resulted in a series of penalties,
which put Burnham on the back foot. It was from one of these that Tim
'Engine Room' Janes picked up and charged through an unprepared defensive line,
to score Writtle's 2nd try near the posts.
The 3rd try came from yet another great passing movement. A break from
Janes down the blindside led to a pass back in to Adam Jones, who popped the
ball to Mike Brown. The ball made its way to Simon Love on the other wing,
who then passed back inside to Clark, who managed to touch down as he was
tackled over the line.
After some refreshing oranges at half time, Writtle changed ends full of
confidence that they could hold on for the win. From the beginning of the
2nd half, with the slope on their side, Burnham started turning the screw and
the Writtle pack found themselves under real pressure, which resulted in a
number of turnovers. At a couple of stone a man lighter than the
opposition, the Writtle pack were clearly tiring in the scrum. But after
being pushed back several scrums in a row, a few changes and some vocal
marshalling from 'Bloody' Jack Redfern provided the forwards with some fresh
impetus and they started putting the Burnham boys under the cosh.
The last half an hour was really messy, with an excessive number of handling
errors and sloppy possession from both teams. The fact that Burnham had
coated the ball with a slick veneer of butter didn't help any, but still the
Writtle team managed to provide good support for each other until the end.
Quite a bit of the second period was spent in the Writtle half, but Burnham were
unable to turn possession in points, with strong tackling and competitive
rucking and mauling across the field.
It was with just a few minutes left, with the Burnham storm well and truly
weathered, that Writtle passed the ball around, and chased up the field.
Some second-phase ball over on the left of the Burnham 22 came out quickly, and
Andy 'White-line Fever' Ross glared across at the winger waiting in support,
before plunging over to the right of the posts for a well-earned forwards' try.
Jack Redfern and Wayne Symons were outstanding when receiving kick offs
throughout the match, setting up a good platform for the backs to attack down
the flanks. Janes, again playing at scrum half, spent half the game on the
floor, but managed to supply some good clean ball under consistent antagonism
from his opposite number, and ran his legs off in support.
A good, convincing win for Writtle, who defended their line well under real
pressure in the second half.
Writtle arrived at this game on the back of two consecutive
defeats and after a heavy defeat at the hands of Canvey in this fixture last
season needed no motivation ahead of the game. However Writtle started slowly
conceding a try in the opening minutes with the Canvey inside centre scoring a
well worked try in the corner. A few sturdy words from skipper Gary Hall gave
the side a wake up call and The Wanderers enjoyed near total domination after
this moment.
A series of ruck and lineout ball stolen by the dominant Writtle forwards set up
some good possession for the Writtle backs who played with great cohesion even
though many had never played in the same side as each other before. Some
powerful running by Dan Haylett at 10 and Mike Williams at 12 pushed the Canvey
defence backwards and with pace outside from Simon Cook at 13 and Simon Love
(hat-trick hero once again!) at 11 the first try for Writtle looked on the
cards. Phil Douglas was unlucky not to register the first points of the day
tackled superbly by the Canvey full back with the line in sight but the
floodgates soon opened up.
Love ran in a well worked try in the corner and prop Ian Douglas crashed over
after number 8 Martin Fetherstone had made excellent ground carrying the ball, a
feature of his play all afternoon. Scrum half Chris "Donny Osmond" Pharris
bagged himself a deserved try with a quick taken penalty which saw him glide
through the Canvey defence while they remonstrated with the referee.
The second half saw much of the same for Writtle with the dominant forwards
consistently driving Canvey off their own ball along with Matt Wilkins and Hall
stealing a good percentage of Canvey line outs. With Colin Jones and Hall
running tirelessly all afternoon hitting rucks and mauls all over the park
Writtle were able to recycle the ball quickly for the backs to further damage
the tiring Canvey side. Love took his tally to the day to 4 with 3 more well
taken tries after slick handling from the backs and Jones deservedly got himself
on the scoresheet.
The fresh legs of Scott Taylor, Graham Dawson and Donal Staunton helped the
defence to stave off a period of concerted Canvey pressure, with a number of
excellent defensive tackles on the Writtle try line holding Canvey at bay.
Canvey were able to score two late consolation tries to put an air of
respectability on the scoreline but the last word of the day went to Writtle.
Strong running from Dave "Wobble" Hyett saw him hold off a number of Canvey
forwards to crash under the posts in the last minute and notch up the Writtle
half century.
All in all the result was well deserved for the dominant Writtle side. Both the
forwards and the backs made excellent ground whenever the ball was in hand, and
the defence was strong pushing Canvey consistently backwards and stopping them
getting over the game line. All players can be proud of their performance but
special mention must go to Jones and Hall who both ran tirelessly throughout the
day, and Fetherstone for his strong running even after leaving the pitch to
throw up!
----------
17th December 2005
It was horrible and cold, too many hangovers and too many dropped balls!!!!
----------