report by Mark Quinnell
On what must surely have been the worst weather of the season so far, Chesham took on Drifters in two short matches at Farnham Common. Both teams were experimenting with players in different positions in the first match and the second was an opportunity for Drifters to give their ‘A’ team a game in preparation for a forthcoming tournament.
Match 1
As the heavens opened Chesham received a low kick off that skipped through the mud bouncing off the legs of a couple of players. By the time Chesham had gathered the ball the Drifter players were upon them and very quickly won the ball back. The ball was spun out wide and Drifters scored in the corner. Chesham kicked off and the ball was gathered by a Drifters forward who then promptly ran through 6 or 7 tackles (everybody going too high and not wanting to get too muddy) before being stopped. After some messy mauls during which time the ball exchanged teams several times Drifters again broke free and went over the Chesham line again; fortunately he ran too far before putting the ball down and Harry (referee) rightly disallowed the try.
The prospect of almost being two tries down in the first 5-minutes (that’s not like us!) seemed to spur the Chesham players into action. Chesham began to exert some pressure on the Drifters side who seemed equally unenthusiastic to go to ground in the tackle, although by now everyone, including the parents, were well and truly drenched. Harry Pollard was very prominent in most of the Chesham attacks and Paddy Cummins used his boot to good effect in pinning Drifters back in their own half. Jamie Hounsfield (fly-half), Adam Cox, (2nd row) were both playing in new positions and after a substitution, Samuel Hewitson (Prop) and Ed Butterworth (hooker) came on for their first contested scrum.
Despite the awful weather, Chesham persisted with their tactics of going forward and passing out of the tackle and this paid off when Samuel Fulford (playing Centre in this match for a change) took a pass at half-way and went on a straight, direct run to the line outpacing all the Drifters defenders to level the score.
At the end of the first match the score was 1 try each. A great result considering the slow start.
The challenge now was to convince everyone that they really did want to play another match!
The main learning from the previous match was to tackle lower so as to force the ruck rather than allowing the driving maul to trundle down the pitch. Also that players in the area of the breakdown either need to get in and push or get out into the back line – not stand around watching.
Most players were back in their familiar positions for this game and despite the persistent freezing rain both teams tried to get the ball out wide. When attacking Chesham used the maul to good effect and at one point drove up the pitch for about 25 metres. At the ruck, both teams competed hard for the ball although unsurprisingly, due to the weather, there were quite a few handling errors resulting in scrums.
Harry, Jordan, Olivia and Michael all had runs with the ball and Olivia made a try-saving tackle by getting hands onto a trundling forward who had broken though and slowed him down sufficiently until help arrived. Some strong defence on the Chesham try-line by everyone also prevented a Drifters score close to the end of the game.
This game was fast turning into a match of attrition and at one scrum both sets of ‘front row’ appealed to the referee to show some mercy. The ref (Harry again), with water dripping off the end of his nose, didn’t need to be asked twice and had no hesitation in calling a halt to the game.
Final score 0-0
As both teams ran towards the clubhouse the rain stopped and the sun came out!!!!
Although today was overshadowed by the weather, to play Drifters twice and come away with two draws was an excellent result, even more so as several players were out of position. Well done to everyone for sticking to the task, it would have been all too easy to give up.
My ‘player of the day’ was Harry Harris who had a great game as referee (I thought Drifters were out of order in not supplying one!) – Harry I’ll give you your chocolate buttons next week!
Next week we are away to Buckingham.
U12’s were: Olivia Harris, Daniel New, Barney Gucklhorn, Edward Butterworth, Jamie Hounsfield, Adam Cox, Alfie Pettifer, Michael Warwick, Tom Gogarty, Paddy Cummins, Oliver Newton, Samuel Fulford, Jordan Ross, Harry Pollard, Jonathan Heath and Sam Hewitson.
Comments