Captain's report - Huddersfield Sat 13th October 2007

Written by Administrator

Tuesday, 16 October 2007

Huddersfield 20 – 17 Shelford There were three important games of rugby at the weekend. Two of these games determined the finalists of the Rugby World Cup, but the most important game saw Shelford narrowly lose to Huddersfield in the first round of the EDF Energy National Trophy. This was a marked improvement on our performance of the previous week. Shelford’s spirit returned, commitment was evident in spades, thundering tackles were made and we scored two well-worked tries to win the try count 2 – 1. The backdrop to the game was a spectacular historic viaduct, which provided a theatre-like environment for the two sides to do battle. After conceding two early penalties, Shelford went ahead through a well-executed move in our opponent’s 22 that saw Duncan Low dart over the whitewash for his first try of the season. Dominic Jones improved the score with a conversion. The Shelford lead was extended with a move that started with a crucial turn-over. Quick hands saw the ball reached Liam Deards on the left wing. Liam skinned his opposite number, chipped over the cover defence and exploited some confusion in the Huddersfield defence to claim Shelford’s second try of the game. Unfortunately, the last play of the half saw Shelford miss a one-on –one tackle and Huddersfield came back into the game with a try in the right corner. The second half was a more scrappy affair that saw the only points come from a sequence of penalty kicks. Poor discipline at the breakdown and persistent “illegal” tackling technique saw Huddersfield awarded the lion’s share of the penalties, which their number 10 gratefully converted. Despite trying to keep the ball alive in the last few minutes of the game, Shelford were unable to break down the regimented Huddersfield defence and a final score of 20-17 progressed the hosts to the next round of the competition. This was definitely a step in the right direction for the Shelford collective and was a statement by us to continue to improve our level of performance. The fundamentals of solid defence and good ball retention are emerging in our play and we will work on our attacking options to make us a more difficult team to beat. Skips

Last Updated ( Saturday, 09 August 2008 )

 

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