Sarries2009 2nd XV Match Report

Seniors 2nd XV - Match Report (Merit Table Fixture)
(30/01/10) Ivybridge 3rd XV - Away (Won 15-22)

Sarries went to bottom place Ivybridge with a few players playing out of position but expecting an easy game. This was not the case!

Sarries won the toss and decided to play uphill first of all, we started slowly, commited too many players to one of the Ivybridge rucks and we were left short out wide which Ivybridge spotted, they used their numbers well, scored and converted to put sarries 7-0 down. After the kick off sarries managed to force a knock on from Ivybridge, the scrum was won (although we were going backwards with then slope), Dave Lawry picked from the back of the scrum and made some good yards, with the new back row partnership of Martyn Dibble and Pete Mcguigan in support who got to the break down immediatly and gave quick clean ball to the noisy scrum half Aaron Brereton who popped a crash ball to Cowley, who offloaded to the quick paced Tom Lane, who drew his man perfectly to release debut winger Tarquin Snell, who handed off his opposite number to score in the corner. The kick was missed by Tom Wilmington, but he later redeemed himself by getting sarries a further 3 points to take us 8-7 up.

Ivybridge then seem to pick up a bit and nearly scored in the corners 2 or 3 times if it wernt for the big hitting defence of Dave Lawry, who seemed to be putting himself around the whole pitch, unfortunatly Ivybridge were awarded a penalty which they kicked to put them in the lead. After the restart Ivybridge secured a mall inside our 22, with most of the sarries forwards in the mall, one of Ivybridges players broke off the mall and went in untouched over the line, the kick was missed and that was the end of the first half (and the uphill slope for sarries) which saw us trailing by 7 points.

The second half started much more productively with sarries using the slope and wind to their advantage, and pinning Ivybridge in their own 22, Sarries forced a penalty on the 5 metre line which Brereton took quickly right in front of the ref, offloaded to Mcguigan who crashed over the line to score........... Unfortunatly the Ref didn't allow the try as the Ivybridge defence wasn't ready???? We took a lineout instead and unfortunatly this was knocked on and then allowed Ivy to clear their lines! After some good play by the sarries backline who were winning their own ball when it went wide, we kicked which went a bit too far, and 22 drop out was given, this was kicked straight into the arms of the rampaging Dave Lawry who ran through the Ivybridge defence with brute force, he got caught short of the line, but the hard working front row of Max Reitmeir (who also had a similar run to Daves) and Tony Papp cleaned up the ruck to let Aaron give a crash ball to Cowley who scored under the posts!

Sarries heads were up now, and we started to look fearless, but unfortunatly our composure went out the window, and Ivy nearly scored a couple more times if it wern't for the grit and determination of the back three. Notably Bushell putting in some big hits (which is unusual). After some good phases the ball was released to the lightning pace of Phennah who ran through his opposite number and stretched over the line to secure the win for sarries!

A very hard and phsical game this week, we must ensure we don't get complacent and we must go into every game thinking its going to be hard work!

Ivybridge should be commended for their sportsmanship, as we had already made both of our subs, and unfortunatly Dave Lawry got injured, and they were happy for us to bring back on one of our players, Also the debutant, Greg Ireland got badly injured at the end of the game and had to go to hospital, and Ivybridge were more than happy to call the game off, even with 4 minutes on the clock.