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Writtle Wanderers RUFC |
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Writtle Wanderers RUFC |
Match Report - 2nd February 2008
Writtle Wanderers 1st XV v Millwall 1st XV
(Essex President's Shield - Quarter Final)
Won 22 - 17
Man of the Match - tbc
Scorers:
Tries - Smillie, Janes 2
Convs - Clark 2
Pen - Clark
Report:
Saturday saw Writtle do the double over Millwall as firstly the Wanderers Vets beat Millwall Vets in an inaugural run out for the Writtle old boys and then the first team chalked up a second victory in the President's Shield. Cheered on by the vociferous old boys who had played earlier, both teams put on a good display of competitive rugby that kept those on the sidelines well entertained.
Writtle started the game in what is almost becoming a weekly re-occurrence by allowing their opponents the first score. Millwall secured possession in the home sides 22 and from the resulting play went over for the try. At 5 – 0 down Writtle began to work their way back into the game with some good controlled rugby. Their first score however came from an opportunist moment from centre Tim Janes. With the ball lose in broken play, he hacked through the broken defence and won the race to score the try, converted by Steve Clark.
Millwall continued to play a varied game using their strong running No. 8 from set plays at the scrum along with a strategy of allowing their backs to run whenever possible. The Writtle defence was looking strong despite the pressure and from this stable foundation the home side were able to start testing their opponents.
Directed by scrum-half Dave McKenna, the Wanderers put together a number of good phases of play which finally resulted in John Smillie crashing through Millwall defence to score. Clark’s conversion took the score to 14-5.
Millwall then upped their intensity and put more pressure on the home side. After several minutes camped in the Wanderers half, something inevitable had to give and flanker Tom Fleming found himself sent to the bin for one infringement too many. Millwall made the most of their extra man and using quick ball, spun the ball wide to score leaving the half time score 14 – 12.
Starting the second half back at full strength, Writtle had the better of the opening exchanges and edged further ahead thanks to the boot of Clark who slotted a long range penalty from close to the half way line. Janes then managed to double his try tally for the afternoon as he found himself on the end of some good work from the Writtle backs to step inside his man to score.
As the clock ticked down, Millwall threw all they could at the Wanderers who held out for all but the final minute when the visitors ran over to score a try. Their fight back was in vein as the referee blew the full time whistle straight after the conversion attempt to see the home side win 22 -17 and progress to the semi-final.
The Wanderers can take many positives from this performance as they return to league action next week in desperate need of a win.
Report by Steve Clark