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Match Report Shelford vs. Jersey Sat 11th Oct 2008 PDF Print E-mail
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Monday, 13 October 2008

ImageJersey 6 - 6 Shelford

On Saturday, Shelford 1st XV played away against a Jersey side currently enjoying their first season in London One. This was always going to be the toughest challenge of our season so far, as we would have to overcome the travel conditions and partisan home support in order to continue our winning start to this year's campaign.

The conditions were set perfectly for an entertaining, free-flowing game of rugby. Jersey began the stronger and unleashed a series of attacks that the Shelford boys struggled to repel - our defence certainly needs to be strengthened if we are to protect our unbeaten status. In what turned out to be a potentially game-turning incident, the Jersey blind side flanker put his foot over the dead-ball line and then dropped the ball when a regulation touchdown seemed inevitable. Shelford eventually began to put more structure around our attacks and made two notable raids into the Jersey 22, both of which were illegally halted by the home team. Two penalties resulted and were converted by Ed Gough. Amazingly, the home team only managed to accumulate 3 points despite all of their possession and territory and the first half ended 6-3 in our favour.

The second half yielded more of the same, with the home side crashing away at the Shelford defence, which remained steadfast throughout. Despite some one-on-one tackles being missed, the Shelford cover defence was superb and was a clear indication that we weren't going to give this result away easily. Frustratingly however, when we had the ball, we were unable to string more than 3 or 4 phases of play together without knocking the ball on or handing over possession cheaply to our opposition. General handling and recycling possession are another two areas that we must improve if we are to remain at the top of the table. We limited Jersey to a solitary penalty in the second half, which left the final score at 6 - 6.

We certainly played our "get-out-of-jail" free card this weekend and are delighted that we emerged with our unbeaten record in tact. We learned some vital lessons on Saturday and mistakes will need to be corrected before we can be seen as title contenders in this division. On the positive side, Luton were beaten by Bishop's Stortford and therefore we remain at the top of our division. We'll go back to the drawing board this week and will emerge a stronger side as a result.
 
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