22nd November 2008 – EDF National Junior Vase
Round 4 Midlands
Rolls-Royce 16 – 17 Stockwood Park
Rolls-Royce fell to their first home defeat of the season against a youthful and well organised Stockwood Park team who travelled up from Luton for this National Vase fixture.
The referee set his stall out before kick off, warning both teams that he would not tolerate a succession of penalties from either side and that 2 or 3 in the “red zone” or 8 or 9 from one team in a half would result in yellow cards.
The game started at a ferocious pace, with the youngsters from SP keen to set their stall out and dictate the pace of the game. Sitting pretty and unbeaten at the top of their league table they were full of confidence and obviously expecting to notch up another comfortable victory. Rolls-Royce weren’t about to give it to them easily however.
The opening exchanges were end to end, with both teams intent on playing positive rugby and using their exciting backs. Rolls-Royce had the upper hand in the opening exchanges but were held to 2 well taken penalties from fly-half Paul McLaughlin as Stockwood Park continued to infringe in their own 22 to prevent Royces from converting any of their chances in to tries. RR 6 – 0 SP.
Stockwood Park came back at Royces and made their way down to the home team’s 22. With an attacking lineout well taken 10 metres out, RR pulled down the rolling maul utilising the ELVs. The ball was spun wide, and a well drilled blocking move freezing the home team defence allowing the SP winger to touch down near the posts. The successful conversion making it RR 6 –7 SP.
Royces continued to have the lion’s share of possession through phase after phase and were also dominating in the set piece. This saw them continue to pressurise the SP line with the away team’s penalty count rapidly rising. Royces looked to press home their advantage in the scrum, opting to take a series of 5metre scrums instead of aiming at goal but each time a SP infringement thwarting the home team’s attacks. In hind sight, maybe it would have been wise for skipper Ranft to take the 3 points on offer but with the temptation of the try and a certain yellow card for one of the SP indiscretions the positive option was taken. Neither the try nor the yellow card came however and SP forced a turn over, advancing back up field to the RR half.
With less than a minute to go in the first half, RR forced a turn over in their own 22 and with a rush of blood to the head, decided to run the ball out. A pushed pass allowed SP to regain possession and spread to their winger. After juggling the ball he managed to cling on and dive for the line. The ball seemed to be grounded well short of the line, but the referee obviously had a better view and awarded the try to Stockwood Park, who to be fair to them, took both their only chances well. Conversion successful, half-time score RR 6 – 14 SP. With the SP penalty count well in to double figures, many of which were in the “red zone” it was disappointing not to see the yellow card appear from the referee’s pocket. Cleverly, it seemed to be a different SP player who gave away each penalty, which may have made it more difficult for the referee to decide who to send to the bin.
Royces re-started the match with a steely determination to get back in front. SP now had a considerable wind at their backs and used this to their advantage, with their fly-half kicking well from hand at every opportunity and punishing any mistakes made by the home team. RR made a conscious decision not to kick any more ball away to avoid being pinned back and this decision proved to be a wise one with Royces dominating both possession and territory for the remainder of the match.
With so much ball, chances were bound to come Royces way. The first of which in the second half saw the home team spread the ball towards the left touch line, backs an forwards combining well. Dave Poole picked the ball up down the blind side and attempted a deft chip over the winger, which was charged down. Skipper Ranft used his agility to scoop up the ball on the move and flattened the SP winger as he setup a ruck. Quick ball to the back line, finishing with a touch down for full-back Duncan Myres in the right corner. Conversion missed, RR 11-14 SP.
RR, with the bit between their teeth immediately returned to the SP 22, this time, no.8 Dan Sanderson beating 3 players and diving for the line in almost exactly the same spot at the SP winger at the end of the 1st half. Unfortunately for the home team, the referee wasn’t quite in the same position as before and could not see the perfectly good grounding of the ball.
Mid way through the 2nd half, SP had a rare visit to the RR half and came away with, what would be, the decisive score, a well struck penalty from their skipper at fly-half. RR discipline letting them down, not rolling away from the tackle area. RR 11- 17 SP
The last 15 minutes of the match was all one-way traffic, with RR maintaining their assault on the SP line. A major positive to take from the match was the fitness levels showed by the home team against a far younger SP side and finishing the match the stronger of the 2 teams. After what seemed like 15+ phases of possession, play was finally halted by yet another SP penalty in the “red zone”, the number of which had continued to rise during the 2nd half. As RR were attempting to continue the relentless pressure, the referee insisted on stopping the game and finally reaching for his pocket in the 79th minute and sending the SP scrum-half for an early bath.
With the SP defence now re-set and 3 points not enough, skipper Ranft took a tap penalty and charged towards the SP posts. Having dragged in the defence, the ball was then spun wide and fly-half Paul McLaughlin twisting and turning his way over for a try near the corner. In doing so he aggravated a long running back injury and was lying motionless for a few minutes afterwards. With the tough conversion to come this was not ideal for the home team. Scrum-half Dave Poole put down his white stick and offered to take the kick, but this only served to breath life back in to McLaughlin, concerned that Poole could not even see the posts from there let alone slot the conversion.
Sadly, the tough conversion was put just wide by the clearly suffering McLaughlin.
With only seconds remaining, a clever decision by the SP skipper to grubber kick the ball in to touch from the restart was quickly followed by the final whistle and with it went Rolls-Royce’s final chance to win the game.
Final Score Rolls-Royce 16 – 17 Stockwood Park
Credit must go to the young and talented Stockwood Park team who clearly have a big future ahead of them if they can stay together as a team and work their way up the league system. Good luck to them for the rest of the competition.
Rolls-Royce must keep their chins up after a rare home defeat in which they played their best rugby of the season so far. Such domination of possession and continuity must now be converted in to points if they are to build on all the positives to be taken from the match.
Team: Myres (8), Blackhurst (7), Betty (8), Peacock (MoM) (8), Jardine (7), McLaughlin (8), Poole (8), Ranft (7), Leonard (8), King (8), Taylor (7), Gill (7), Daigneault (8), Nithsdale (8), Sanderson (8). Subs: Noble (7) (for Leonard 55 mins), Gormley, Hicks + Warrior (not used)