Captain's Report Sat 9th February 2008

Written by Administrator

Monday, 11 February 2008

Shelford 42 – 35 Barnes On Saturday, the Davey Field saw one of it’s most entertaining games of recent times, I have been told. This was a must win game for the Shelford collective. A win would keep alive the dream of promotion to the National Leagues and a loss would almost certainly remove this scenario from the realms of possibility. To heighten our resolve to win this game was the fact that Barnes had subjected us to a humiliating defeat in London earlier this season. Revenge through victory was therefore the order of the day. Shelford started brightly and when the Barnes full-back failed to deal with a kick and chase situation, Shelford capitalised superbly to put Dominic Jones in for the first score of the game. Tom Dann converted the try to begin what turned out to be a fine kicking display. Shelford 7 – Barnes 0. Poor Shelford discipline at the breakdown presented Barnes with a penalty deep inside our 22. We reacted as though we assumed that a kick for goal would follow and the Barnes fullback exploited our defensive disorganisation to put Barnes in for their first try. Another silly penalty gave Barnes the chance to kick for the corner and from the ensuing line out, their forward pack were able to set up a driving maul that carried them over the whitewash for their second try of the game. Shelford 7 – Barnes 12. Before the end of the second half, we managed to put together a sequence of effective attacks, one of which resulted in Tom Dann converting a penalty goal and another saw Dafydd Lewis exploit a poorly defended blind side to score in the corner. Tom Dann improved the touchline conversion. Unfortunately, Shelford were also exposed by a well-worked stand-side strike move that saw Barnes cross the line for the third time in the half. This was converted along with another penalty kick, which was awarded for a Shelford player being caught offside at the breakdown. Half time score, Shelford 17 – Barnes 22. The second half was an equally thrilling 40 minutes of entertainment. End-to-end rugby saw interception tries for both teams, with Chris Glynn stretching out his “Bionic” Arm in our own 22 and gliding the length of the field to score under the posts. Glynnie finished another superb Shelford move, which started with a dazzling break by Shelford centre Richard “Truck” Davies. As always, Dom Jones was on hand in support and provided the try scoring pass to Glynnie who took the ball brilliantly and powered over the Barnes tryline. Shelford’s final try was started by the ever-threatening Jones who broke down the left side and miraculously squeezed the ball between three defenders to yours truly, who ran in from 30 meters – some said that they have never seen me move so quickly. I maintain that this was because Sam Tovo was my closest supporting player and I didn’t want him to “smuggle” the ball from me to score himself, as he did to Simon Neep a couple of weeks ago!! Tom Dann’s kicking was again superb in the second half and he converted two of our three second-half tries, along with two further penalties to bring Shelford’s points haul to 42. Apart from the interception try, Shelford’s only other concession was again from a quick tap penalty. Not having learned from a similar mistake in the first half, Barnes were able to exploit defensive confusion in the Shelford ranks once again to cross for their fifth try of the game. This was converted to bring the Barnes total to 35. On balance this was a fantastic effort from the boys. Barnes are a very useful outfit and are extremely potent with ball in hand. It would have been easy for our heads to drop as we fell behind in the first half, but the current cohesion and spirit within the team is such that we were always going to respond with fire inside us. This team believes that promotion is still a distinct possibility and is very much within our grasp. After ten consecutive victories, we travel to Richmond next week expecting to win the game. We must win this game!! We have much to play for and we will throw everything we have at the top of the table team. Two years ago, we were the only side to beat eventual league winners, Ealing. Notably, the win was away from home. The scene is now set perfectly for history to repeat itself. If it does, we will have taken another huge step closer to promotion to the National Leagues. The more support we can take to Richmond, the greater our chance of victory will be. Please come along to offer your most vocal support, as this promises to be an epic encounter!

Last Updated ( Saturday, 09 August 2008 )

 

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