Twos
find the character to win a tight one
On Saturday at Meggetland the Twos beat Currie 2XV by 24-16
in a league encounter. As usual there was a strong wind
blowing down the pitch but the condition of the ground was
very good after all the rain we've had. To some extent this
was a bit of a mugging since Currie controlled almost all of
the second half but on the other hand we played the better
rugby for most of the match.
Playing
against the wind first half with Currie playing though their
forwards we had some defending to do. Fortunately for us,
Currie didn't use the conditions at all well. They rumbled
through the forwards and when they opened the ball out there
wasn't a cutting edge to cause much trouble. For our part,
we did have that edge but a number of good flowing moves and
breaks broke down because the final pass wasn't good enough
or the receiving hands not good enough. This was to
feature throughout the match.
We made
some fine breaks from Peter Kempston, Sean Reddox and Mark
Ross but poor distribution was cost us potential scores.
However on 15 mins the team put it together and Rob Cairns
receiving on about half way sprinted up the touch line,
burning the cover to score under the posts. Peter Kempston
converted.
Currie
pressed hard thereafter and whilst we defended the pick and
drive very well, holding them up over the line on one
occasion, we let in a very soft try by the Currie no.13 who
strolled through a huge gap in front of our posts. The
conversion was good and
they followed up with a penalty on 36mins to lead by 10-7 at
half-time.
We had
much of the game in the first half and looked forward to the
wind behind, confident we could overturn the minor deficit.
Seven minutes into the second half, Peter Kempston slotted
a penalty to tie the scores in a rare visit to the Currie
half. Playing against the wind, Currie dominated the game
for the first half-hour of the half. We just couldn't get a
good enough ball to get us down the field.
During
that spell the wind did drop for ten minutes or so and
Currie took the lead and extended it with a well-taken drop
goal from
their stand-off on 60 mins, a splendid left foot effort that
sailed high over and inside the posts, and a penalty three
minutes later.
At 10-16
down the match seemed to be slipping away but in the last
ten minutes some spark ignited and the match turned
dramatically. We eventually did get a ball that could be
hoofed down the field. Peter Kempston started it off and
had some fine kicks well placed towards the touch lines with
the wind behind. Now the chase was aggressive and the
Currie full back had little time to move after fielding the
ball.
The whole
team lifted their effort and had the will and the character
to press hard for the win. The pressure on Currie now took
its toll. Three penalties from Peter in the 67th, 72nd and
77th mins turned the score around. Aggressive work by the
forwards got its reward when Greig Scott dived over right on
time. Peter missed the conversion from fairly wide out and
the whistle blew for time.
This was
Peter's only miss in a 5 from 6 kicking performance. He
played very well and both Mark and Sean in the centres ran
well but have had better days with their
distribution. Robert Cairns was a class apart and got
through a lot of work whereas nothing really reached Ewan
Gaskell on his wing. Kevin Brown captained the side, The
back row defended well, the second row were solid and all
five of the front row battled well. Kevin Robertson at full
back had a relatively quiet day as Currie used their
forwards and didn't kick well.
This was
a good win that did look in doubt until inside the last ten
minutes. The major feature was the poor distribution and a
final point on that. Late in the second half Peter Kempston
broke through into the Currie 22. He was felled by a
swinging arm at head height. As he was struggling to
recover and explained about the stiff arm that took him out,
Brian Richardson in his usual manner said, "Ah well, it's
your fault, you should have passed the ball before that"!
