Welwyn 3rd vs Cantabrigians 2nd Match Report

3rd XV

The warm up eventually got underway when Tiff eventually went, after trying to steal our players. His friendly game was obviously more important than our merit table match which counted as a double header and the victor taking 8 points. Playing on the first team pitch there was plenty of room on a slightly heavy soil on a beautiful day for an open game.

Attacking down the slope Welwyn started well and attacked a young but well drilled Cantabrigian side. Welwyn attacked hard through the Forwards and then in the Centres with Wiggy and Nick Taylor. However, this was never to be an easy match as the opposition tackled well and defended the fringes from the pick and drive from the Welwyn pack. Eventually the pressure paid off when Mikey Burrows forced his way over for a try on the left wing and the conversion was narrowly missed. From the re-start, Cantabrigian's showed some good skills, off-loaded in the contact to keep their attacks alive and their first visit into Welwyn's 22 was rewarded with a well struck penalty in front of the posts. Welwyn was dominant for much of the first half, aided by the slope, and was rewarded with Mikey Burrows bullying his way over after a good, individual run, which consisted of 10 yards forwards and 30 yards sideways. James Lynch slotted the conversion. Wiggy was forced to leave the field with a suspected cheek fracture and may well have ruined his rugged good looks. In the second half Cantabrigians had much more of the ball but Welwyn defended valiantly with the Backs and Forwards all putting their tackles in, even Pikey. Stokesy was in usual fine form, his tackles resembled more of a judo throw and probably looked as painful as impressive for his unsuspecting victims. In a game that could have gone either way, Neil Afford and Bill Moran capitalised on a Cantabrigian Hooker that was finding them on almost every lineout. The only points in the second half were a well struck penalty from James Lynch and Bill spending 10 minutes under the posts instead of Justin. Creaky dislocated his finger after chasing a loose ball and was forced to leave, so a re-shuffle saw Ant Newsom take over at No 9 and Leon come onto the wing. Creaky reminded Ant that the No 9 shirt was only on short-term loan. Leon was pleased for the run about, thinking the Fives were playing at home. An excellent performance from all and an excellent game to watch. Well done lads........lets do it at St Neots next week.

This match report has only been completed as a special request by Mikey Burrows so he can show it to his mum and dad - ahh bless him !

Also, welcome back to Steve Bell after a long period of injury.

TEAM:
Andy Bolton
Steve Bell
Nick Taylor
Wiggy
Pikey
Ant
Creaky
Keith Bothick
Mikey Burrows
Neil Afford
Justin Burgess
Bill Moran
(Lieutenant) Dan Evans - Captain (AKA Dolls House)
Si Lynch (happy 50th)
Richard Stokes

SUBS (a bench that even the Boks would be impressed with):
James Lynch
Len Cleary
Leon Teone (selected in the Fives but glad your turned up for us)