Sally Gunnell?
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3rd October 2009
Sawston Vs Saffron Walden “Saxons” (2nd team)
Sawston continued with their entirely new playing style on a breezy Saturday afternoon on the Village College slope. Instead of the attractive but relatively unsuccessful approach of flinging the ball out wide, Sawston persevered with the new tighter, more compact forwards game. The new look Sawston, who are under the leadership of a couple of old school forwards this year, have concentrated on ball retention and territory and it is certainly starting to pay dividends.
Against a very quick Saxon backline Sawston’s approach worked perfectly. Mauling, aggressive rucking and simple backs moves gave the team from Essex very little opportunity to release the young back 3. Walden were far from a one trick pony however and certainly did not make it easy.
After winning the toss Sawston decided to play with the wind in the first half, hoping to take a comfortable lead before half time. Unfortunately it was not to be. With conditions not favouring expansive rugby, numerous handling errors from both sides resulted in plenty of scrums. Against a large side (one of the Walden props looked like he’d had his shirt spray painted on) Sawston competed admirably in both scrummaging and rucks/mauls. Again Dan did a lot of damage in the lineout, which in tandem with long clearance kicks from Francois provided Sawston with excellent field position. A field position that launched a platform for Sawston’s new found mauling game and direct backs approach. Unfortunately, they couldn't quite make the breakthrough and a number of errors including a couple of penalties meant Walden were only 9-6 behind at half-time.
Bizarrely Sawston saved their best spell of rugby for the head wind in the second half. In a 5 minute period of possession they carried the ball from their own 5m line the entire length of the pitch to the opposition try line. With a couple of clearance kicks, lineouts and mauls along the way they eventually found themselves in a maul rumbling towards the score. A huge pile of bodies and numerous appeals from both teams later, the referee awarded what has to be one of the least attractive but most rewarding tries Sawston has ever scored. A truly patient team effort against a good side, uphill, into a strong head wind took nearly 5 minutes to return any rewards.
Missed penalties from the away team and a late unconverted try in response from a well supported Saffron Walden provided a nail biting finish and the realisation that the result could have easily been different. It is still early stages in the Sawston learning curve but it is encouraging to see that Sawston have now won 2 out of their first 3, both of which were very competitive games that could easily have been lost. It has been a great effort from everyone and it is encouraging to see good numbers at training which is obviously creating the success.
On the subject of Sawstons performance one unnamed spectator observed that the new style of play is a bit like Sally Gunnell – “Not very attractive but successful nonetheless” A fair summary for a great game.
Final score 16-11
Team: Mark, Ashley, Chris S, H, Callum, Francois, Nick F, Pete, Wilf, Nab, Don, Theo, Dan F, Vipers, Robin.
Subs: Tim, Jay
Tries: Huge pile of forwards
Cons: Francois
Pens: Francois (3)
Sawston Star Man
Tim was absolutely brilliant at openside. He contributed superbly across the park. He was quick to the breakdown, tackled superbly and in true no. 7 style was an excellent link between the forwards and backs in attack. Normally at this point the compliment of Man of the Match is followed by a cheap insult, so as not to disappoint - did you know that Tim sucks cock?
Coaches Corner
It’s fair to say that Robin looked quite pleased with himself after the game. He was just grinning in that way that geriatric patients vacantly smile at nothing in particular. Actually as Robin is 204 next month it might actually just be dementia setting in…
Players Perspective
The impact of the unpredictable Francois at outside half was admired by both H and Chris after the game “He makes some great breaks and times his passes superbly - if only we could work out what the fuck he is going to do next we’d have scored about 20 tries. Although if we don’t know what the hell he is going to do it has got to be impossible for the opposition.” … guys perhaps if you just stopped dropping the ball when he passes to you that might help…?
The small print
This article does not represent the views of Sawston rugby and may not bear any resemblance to real events. It is not intended to offend anyone… actually that’s probably not true as I aim to offend everyone in the club at least once a season. I do not pretend to comprehend the rules, especially as the new rules are now the old rules and the old, old rules are back again. From time to time I will refer to “scrums” and “rucks” and “mauls” in these reports, but please be assured that I don’t know what these are.
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Sawston 1sts fixutres and results
http://www.greenekingrugby.co.uk/results/Supremresults.htm
Sawston 2nds fixtures and results
http://www.greenekingrugby.co.uk/results/deuxiemeNORDresults.htm
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