Musical Props
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28th November 2009
Cambridge Adventurers Vs Sawston
Draws are arguably the biggest anti-climax in rugby. Slogging your guts out for 80 minutes and then only achieving a point (in addition to the one you get for turning up in our league) is a huge let down. You’d think that losing would surely be worse but the problem with drawing is that you would almost certainly feel like you could and should have won. Both teams on Saturday effectively had a relatively simple kick to win the match and both missed. Both teams could have claimed to be the better side for periods in the game but in the end neither could find the magic to win.
For a 10-10 game it was actually quite entertaining too. Sawston had to make a couple of try saving tackles on the peroxide blond number 13. He was fast and strong and could easily have won the game for them had he chosen to pass at the right time. Choosing to ignore a two-man overlap outside him to try and run over Chris on the 80th minute was definitely a mistake. Unfortunately for him I think he realised this just at the point when his ankles rose above his head.
Really though the game was won and lost (or in this case drawn), as it so often is, in the forwards. Sawston’s scrum, which has been having nightmares about the last few occasions we played Cambridge, absolutely obliterated the opposition - winning ball against the head, wheeling successfully to limit their attacking options and bringing down the 8 pick early. Beast and Pete amusingly went through about 5 or 6 different combinations of props throughout the game, seemingly a different pairing every scrum. Along with substitutes the front 5 rotated like a game of musical chairs.
The lineout was equally successful, Theo rose like an ugly bearded Salmon to disrupt opposition ball and provide a solid platform to drive from. It’s great that we’ve now got to the stage where we are not completely reliant on Dan for winning decent ball.
Cambridge’s physicality and experience limited Sawstons opportunities in the maul and at the breakdown, but when previously we’d have just been run over, Sawston stepped up to the challenge. Solid defence born from committing less players to breakdowns and excellent tackling limited the Cambridge attacks as their only breakthroughs came from scrappy possession and dropped balls. A key learning point for the rest of the season will be for Sawston to understand how to deal with slow ball more effectively and not panic when the ball takes a while to appear.
Wilf darted around like an overweight ferret and made some excellent breaks in the process. Wayne took his try well and, as always, ran hard and straight despite a broken wrist. Nick Ford overcame having just 20 minutes sleep after a 14 hr night shift and a 2hr drive from London to tackle relentlessly around the fringes. Martin caught an amazing kick through to almost cap his return to the first team with a try and Robin, Tim and Ben competed superbly against much bigger players.
Final Score 10-10
Team: Wayne, Callum, Chris, Dan O, Martin, Ash, Nick F, Pete, Wilf, Beast, Don, Nudger, Mad Ben, Tim, Robin.
Subs: Vipers
Tries: Wayne
Cons: Tim
Pens: Tim
Sawston Star Man
Pete was absolutely outstanding in the scrum against multiple tubby old men who looked like they had been scrummaging for most of their lives. His dominance was so obvious, even I noticed it.
Coaches Corner
“Training, training, training” was the message from Robin and Chris after the game. There can be no greater advert for attending training than Saturday’s result. It really opitimised how far we’ve come this season and yet most of what we’ve achieved has come from pre and early season sessions. Recent training has been less well attended albeit no less well organised and focused. We’ve had some great sessions with limited numbers so better attendance could only improve this further. December is a key month for us with a number of fixtures that will define our season. We either push on and make ourselves genuine title contenders or fall back into the pack. It’s our choice.
Players Perspective
Most of the team were very complimentary about the opposition backs after the game. Especially regarding their pace out wide. Vipers however had a different perspective. “I am faster than their backs” he proclaimed, to which many replies came back… “Vipers, for example, their outside centre stood Callum up and ran the long way around the outside to score his try” “Apart from him then, I was faster” he replied “Then the scrum half and fly half were both very quick too Vipes, you didn’t really get near them” came from one player “Ok then, maybe not them two” he agreed. “Actually their full back was rapid, once he caught the ball that is” “Yeah and that winger that I body checked rather than tackled he was definitely quicker than you Vipes” “Ok, but when I ran down the wing I overtook their inside centre” Vipers eventually replied. So yes Vipes apart from 9,10,11, 13,14 and 15 you were faster than all their backs. Presuming, the 12 was not just jogging when you overtook him that is.
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. Don’t take it personally though. 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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We're a friendly rugby club based in Sawston near Cambridge that runs two teams and plays regular games on Saturdays. Training is at 7:30pm on Tuesday and Thursday nights and we run our own bar. If you're interested please email Justin Curtis or just turn up at the club - click here for directions
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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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