25th October 2008 – Mids 5 East (North)
Worksop 29 – 5 Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce travelled to north Nottinghamshire for this league match and faced an unknown quantity in Worksop. Royces turned up nice and early and got a quality pre-match warm up in. As anticipated, the pitch was narrow and uneven and so skipper Ranft stressed the need for a direct approach with close support runners in order to draw in the defence before spreading it wide in the opposition 22.
The game got off to a rampant start with Worksop throwing their weight around at the breakdown and Rolls-Royce looking dangerous in the backs and causing problems out wide for the home team. Royces put phase after phase of good recycled ball together in the opposition 22 and the pressure told with Dan Sanderson going over in the corner. Conversion missed but a great start by the away team, carrying on where they left off against Uttoxeter the previous week.
For the first 20 minutes Royces continued to pressure the home side in their own half, going close on a few occasions but not managing to convert the pressure in to any further points. The home team were camped in their own half with their only means of escape being wayward kicks, which were easily dealt with and run back by Royces full back Duncan Myres.
As the 1st half wore on, Royces problems at the set piece escalated with them still missing 4 key front five players to injury and unavailability. Worksop dominated at the scrum and managed to disrupt the usually stead-fast Rolls-Royce lineout. In the first 20 minutes these weaknesses did not have a huge impact as Rolls-Royce were camped in the opposition half, however the Royces discipline gradually slipped and penalty after penalty were conceded allowing Worksop to claw their way in to Royces territory.
After 3 penalties conceded in as many breakdowns, Worksop had gained 90 yards and had a lineout on the Rolls-Royce 5-metre line. This was taken unopposed by the middle jumper who was driven over for the home team’s opening try with the Royces pack unable to exploit the new ELVs by pulling down the maul.
In a crazy 15 minutes for Rolls-Royce, who lost count of the number of penalties they gave away through a severe lack of discipline and an inability to listen to what the referee was telling them, they conceded 3 further tries before half time, all from under pressure scrums in their own 22 in which Worksop used their dominance and the 5-metre rule to their advantage well.
The only other significant point to note in a disastrous 1st half, was the rib injury to hooker Mike Brown who was replaced by Chai Uawithya just before half time with the score at Worksop 24-5 Rolls-Royce.
Playing in to a swirling wind, Rolls-Royce started the 2nd half with a mountain to climb but began to re-gain parity in the set piece with the added weight of Chairman Chai in the front row a bonus. Royces were running everything out of their own half but never making any real headway due to a combination of poor support play and bad body positions in contact meaning that Worksop were able to force turnovers and penalties at an alarming rate as Royces discipline continued to leave a lot to be desired!
Having finally started to exert some pressure on the home team scrummage, Royces were dealt a further blow by a nasty looking knee injury to veteran tight-head James Gormley. Having already used their front-row replacement, the game regrettably resorted to uncontested scrums on 53 minutes and the score still at 24-5 to the home team. This seemed to change the intensity of the match with both sides seeming to play a looser game which resulted in more errors and any ground gained by Rolls-Royce’s attempts to play and expansive game thwarted by the home side who seemed content to hammer any ball that they received deep in to the Royces half.
Worksop completed the scoring with their final try in the last 15 minutes which came from a speculative hack through and the home team winger out pacing the cover defence to score an opportunist try.
Final score Worksop 29 – 5 Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce’s inability to adapt their game plan to away ground conditions remains a concern but the main improvement requirement following this match is the team’s discipline which was at it’s worst in recent memory.
Team: Myres (7), McNamara (6), Betty (6), Turner (5), Peacock (6), McLaughlin (7), Poole (7), Ranft (5), Brown (4), Gormley (4), Taylor (5), Sanderson (5), Noble (5), Nithsdale (5), Daigneault (7). Subs: Uawithya (6) (for Brown 35 mins), Blackhurst (5) (for Gormley 53 mins), Hicks (7) (for McNamara (60 mins)