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Match Report - 3rd XV v Ampthill III |
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Written by Andrew Baron
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Monday, 31 October 2011 |
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Shelford 3's 54 Ampthill 3's 12 (written by Charles Worthington) Twenty-two stalwart warriors turned up to play this match following March 3's pulling out of the arranged league match. With only three backs the strategic geniuses behind the scenes decided on a forwards dominated game... with Mike ‘Surname Now Known’ Hodder filling in at 13, Tristan ‘Tri-Colour’ French (no relation to Jamie... but he is French and I don’t know his surname) on one wing and Jeremiah ‘Septic’ Carlson on the other... giving me an opportunity to mention forwards in this match report!
After receiving the kick, John ‘POTATO!’ O’Loughlin made a couple of good runs up the field with Shelford eventually being awarded a penalty that John ‘Muffler’ Clemence took quickly, offloading to Mike who, being straight through a gap, stepped the full back to score under the posts. Chris ‘Really? At 9? And then kicking?!’ Butcher then convert to make it 7-0. At 10, Will ‘Noel’s Bodily Antithesis’ Woodgate followed several previous side-stepping efforts to break the defence then offload down the line through several sets of hands getting eventually to Matt ‘Hamstring A-OK’ Parsons who, from 15, put the ball over the line to extend the lead to 12-0. A penalty kick soon after resulted in a lineout ably taken by Dan ‘Rarefied Air’ Fordham which, despite not going straight to hands, enabled Dan ‘Ratman’ Conlon to romp through a couple of Ampthill players to put up another 5 points. Wooders then made it 22-0 with some further stepping skills and speed followed by a good period of possession and pressure from the opposition who eventually scored themselves. A quick reply though was forthcoming when Mike held up their centre, the forwards smashed through at the ruck to steal the ball, getting it to Biff who put down on the far right just before the end of the half. The second began as the first finished with another score but this time from Wooders who added bashing to stepping and speed on his rugby CV, followed quickly by a drop kick to bring the score to 34-5. With changes made, George ‘Derek’ Randell had the opportunity to show he is more suited to wing than the front row and did so by cleanly catching a dink over the top then offloading to support which lead to Matt taking his 2nd try. In a repeat performance from the first half the visitors then produced an additional 7 points from strong work in the forwards. Mike then got a 2nd after some great interplay between himself and Will ‘Natural Wing’ McGarry. Wooders then got his hat-trick (from which a jug resulted) in a similar style to his last. More great interplay then gave Colon his 2nd to finish off a great all round performance from all 22 players. Being at liberty to make a lot of notes on good moves/periods of play, I made a lot of notes and have far too much material for this report. Apologies for not mentioning everyone... if we ever score less than 50 points this season I will make the effort to include more general play information! Moment of the Match: Mike proving he is a perfect 13 by executing a perfect centre switch and putting on perfect speed to score under the posts... but not putting enough downward pressure on the ball proving perfectly that he’s a forward. Running Points Total for the Season: 461 Injury Watch:Clem – everything – still carrying onRichie – knee – 1 weekNigel – shoulder – 2-4 weeksCallum – ankle – 4-8 weeksChalky – knee – 6-8 weekCharlie – toe – 24-36 monthsJames W – back – terminal and fatal |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 31 October 2011 )
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