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OP 2s survive in tight game with Emanuel |
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Posted on Friday, October 30 @ 11:59:09 BST by jacksonc |
 Old Emanuel 2XV 10 vs Old Pauline 2XV 16
Saturday 24th October 2009
Merit League Conference 1
Match Report by David Richard
On the back of a hard-earned victory at St Paul’s school against Wellies, a full Old Pauline 2XV side with a complement of subs and vets in tow travelled down the A3 to face Old Emanuel, a team smarting from three losses on the bounce: perhaps this contest would be a little easier and enable the 2s to make it three from four in Surrey Conference One?
Pulling into the immaculately presented entrance to Emanuel’s ground (near the Krispy Kreme roundabout and B&Q) the skies overhead were still a shade of grey, the grass underfoot wet leaving feet bereft of grip and ball enclosed in a film of dew. Unusually there was plenty of time to warm up, backs running through their moves for the benefit of the newcomers; Liam Camburn making his Old Pauline debut at full back, last seen during the OPs 7s tournament in April running the full length of the pitch alone (i.e. no support runners fit enough) to score a fabulous try, and Sully playing at 9 for OP 2s for the first time this campaign.
And so the match began, immediately it became clear Old Pauline’s were dominating up front – some great work by the forwards meant ball was getting out to the backs, who were trying to play a closer, tighter game what with a wet ball and not wanting to get dirty hands or mud in their nails. That said, Max fairly quickly decided for a change of outfit, shouting orders to the sidelines for his other boots to be summoned since they’d be more suited to this autumn season’s look.
After several sustained periods of pressure in Emanuel’s half, included several turned over scrums, the ball was flung out wide – Carrsy popping a lovely short pass to Dave on the wing, who jinked past his opposite man and a covering defender on the way to the try-line. A good start and reward for early pressure, OPs 0-5 up.
Unfortunately, within minutes Emanuel had replied with a converted try against the run of play, OPs turned over in our own 22, to make it 7-5. Heads didn’t drop however; this was a match we were going to win and in a great pathetic fallacy the sun began to pierce the clouds, casting an autumnal glow of optimism upon the pitch. As our shadows grew longer and bigger with the low-lying sun, so did belief in victory. Still quite a lot more to come, mind.
Before half time, OPs forwards continued to assert their dominance in the scrum, evidenced by Emanuel paying them the greatest compliment possible by opting for lineouts rather than scrums after our (too many) crooked lineouts. The pack, led by a masterclass in scrummaging from Moose, were destroying Emanuel, pushing them back off their own put in and forcing the scrum around in circles. Tom Shillaker then stepped up to take a penalty, slotting it between the posts to make it 7-8 and putting us back into the lead.
After half time, Emanuel made it 10-8, an unnamed OP (Johno) penalised for not releasing – perhaps one of the many dubious decisions made by Emanuel’s 16th man. This match wasn’t over yet.
On came several replacements over the next quarter, unquestionably ‘impact players’ as the lexicon goes. Tom Attenborough had a stormer at the breakdown, tackled like Skinner, foraged like Winterbottom and carried like Teague. Coxy added to the drama, first with a disallowed try for being held up over the line, then with a difficult penalty from 40+ metres to put OPs back in the lead, albeit a slender one, at 10-11. All to play for.
The final quarter was fraught with tension, in particular one phase of play where OPs, within 5 yards of the try line and the opportunity to put the match to bed, soon found themselves defending under pressure. Following on from last week’s heroic defensive efforts as the clock ticked down, there was no breach, save for a lunge by an Emanuel who was judged by the referee to have been held up over the try line. A great (possibly fortunate) call and a great tackle by AN Other.
With play now at the bottom of the hill (a gentle sloping pitch in our favour for the second half), OPs put several phases together on the right flank, ending in a line break by Johno into Emanuel’s 22. With a choice reminiscent of Wilko in the ’03 final, Johno had Dave on one side and Coxy on the other. He opted to chuck to his left and a brilliant flat pass saw the ball spiral its way through the crisp autumnal air into Tiny’s hands for the final score of the match making it 10-16. A conversion by Coxy would have been nice, since it was just right of the posts, but you can’t have everything.
OPs saw out the final moments of the match without much further drama, making it three from four. The 2s now sit 4th in the league - only two points below top-placed Twickenham. With a full side and substitutes making a mark, the 2s showed again they can beat anyone on their day. A friendly at home vs Bec Old Boys this weekend is followed by a huge match against second-placed Old Wimbledonian the weekend after.
Team: Dave Harrison, Ian Reeves, Andy Hamblin, Max, Dave Nicholas, NFL Madden, Micky (Tom Attenborough), Paddy, Sully (Coxy), Johno, Ben Teo (Gaz), Tom Shillaker (James ‘I feel good’ Brown), Carrsy, Dave Richard, Liam Camburn
16 points – Coxy (1 penalty), Tom S (1 Penalty), Dave R (2 tries)
MOM: Tom Attenborough – came on in the second half and absolutely upped the intensity when it was needed in the tight closing stages, just the right side of psycho.
COM: Emanuel not having a referee sorted and having to use one of their own...some interesting refereeing at times. Potentially could have been Dave and Liam in what happens when two wingers both think ‘it’s yours!’ and leave a high ball to bounce into the hands of an onrushing Emanuel, who was almost clear through (fortunately Liam wrapped him up and all danger was averted).
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