ROSSLYN PARK 0 SHELFORD 15     

Not the best preparations as the drive took us two and a half hours which meant that once everyone was on the pitch we had three minutes allotted to warm up and off we went.

Usually when this happens you are so far behind by half time that it is difficult to claw your way back into the match but not this game. The build up and the journey firmly out of the system we started brightly and never really let Rosslyn Park get a foothold in the match. We contested strongly at the breakdowns putting a lot of pressure on our opponents and when they did get the ball wider where they had strong runners our defence was solid.

Having got the better of their strengths it was up to us to get our game into play and to be honest we could have and should have scored more but overall our objective was an away win so to get that and to nil our opponents was a great result. After many opportunities the first score came after extended pressure in their twenty two tying in their forwards after continued phases until the ball was quickly fed to Andy Daly at ten who with a miss pass found Will Green in acres of space to waltz over the line which Andy duly converted.

This was the only score to half time but as we changed sides we stepped up a gear and to be fair completely dominated the second half. Mid way through the half Dave Archibald broke through the mid field and shrugged off a few defenders before scoring under the posts and chalking his first for the season. Somehow Andy missed the conversion but a few minutes later added a penalty which took the game out of sights for Rosslyn Park.  On the whole this was a really pleasing result, the forwards were solid in the set pieces and everywhere in the loose especially M’Bop, the backs were solid in defence and when given the opportunity looked sharp in attack and also the interplay between the two was working well. Onwards and upwards now as a gap is starting to emerge between the top five and the rest in the league and some big battles ahead to determine who finishes where.