Men’s 1st XV v Old Reigatian 15/11/2008

Home – London 3 South East

Report by Andy Ward

Lost 15-29

On a day of bad decision making, I started by getting to the Club early! Still, the arrival of a pint and the onset of lunch proved sufficient distraction to start the afternoon off in an enjoyable way.

But, come 14:30 things started to take a turn for the worse. On a day when the ball seemed completely determined to bounce the wrong way and on a day when the team collectively seemed to make wrong choices it was going to be one of those days.

OR started the game with an intensity designed to harass Hove by attacking them whenever in possession and this appeared to be enough to put the Hove boys out of shape. Denied any time on the ball, they seemed to be at a loss to decide how best to counter.

OR had an early penalty which they contrived to miss and then Hove had the opportunity to open the scoring which they took and thanks to Sam’s boot were 3 points to the good. Three minutes later equality was restored with a further transgression leading to OR scoring three points.

It was at around this time that I noticed that OR supporters were shouting “Come on Rei” and my mind wandered as to how things would be if they were playing Sussex neighbours (well, not quite neighbours!) Rye! One lot would be shouting for Rei and the others for Rye just cancelling any effect that this may have. Just an observation.

Back to the game and 2 minutes after the penalty, OR scored the first try of the game and duly converted it. This was rather disappointing as their 12 danced through defenders without anyone committing to the tackle and he should have been brought down well before this. Decision making and leadership chaps.

Within 4 minutes of OR going over, Hove via Ryan Morlen scored a good try a result of dogged effort. The kick didn’t work for Sam and Hove had to be satisfied with the five points.

Hove then had a couple of completely kickable penalties but elected each time to take a scrum. Decision making chaps. If the points are there then take them. Both scrums came to nought and the decisions were heightened as OR score a second try (not converted) taking the score to 8-15, when it should have been 14-15. Again, this was a try that should easily have been stopped as the Reigate number 8 was not that big an act to put on his bum – but it seemed to be beyond us.

Just before half time, handbags occurred when one OR player had a swipe at Ryan. Ryan over reacted and paled him a couple of times for his cheek only for the Reigate 20 to come flying over and get involved in something that had nothing to do with him. Clubs must deal with players like that. The referee then gave Ryan 10 minutes for contemplation and rightly so. The fact that he did not invite the Reigate 20 to join him was, in my opinion, another example of bad decision making that seemed prevalent throughout the day.

Half time arrives and Adam came off to be replaced by Charlie and a little shuffle was done with the front row cards with Rory going to loose, Paul going to tight and Charlie hooking. OR kicked off and the game restarted.

After 11 minutes when Hove were in the ascendency a stupid pass by skipper Glenn Rankin was easily intercepted by the OR 10 who raced in for a try under the posts which was converted (at the second attempt and I’m unclear why referee Gibson allowed this to happen). So, on top of the six points squandered in the first half, another seven were given to the opposition. If your maths aren’t up to it on a Sunday morning that’s 13 and remember that number at the end of the report.

Seven minutes after that, after good work by Hove, Harvey broke through and powered over for as good a try as you will see – unless you are referee Gibson – who, to the astonishment of Hove and OR players and supporters alike disallowed it. Harvey touched it down legally and with aplomb and then lifted the ball in celebration and touched it down again. Knock on said referee Gibson. Decision making – its all about decision making. Even the partisan section of OR supporters close to me looked at each other with embarrassment and said that was a try. Ah well, the man with the whistle is in charge and if he states it’s not a try then it doesn’t count.

Ryan was now invited to rejoin the proceedings after his 10 minutes sentence was over and soon after this a couple more substitutions were made with Roger and Nick coming on for Barry and Scott.

Despite having good possession, Hove were now chasing a game that they could have been winning and so mistakes crept in to play and some players were trying to win it on their own and, as a result, losing the possession that we so desperately needed.

In the 33rd minute of the second half, OR went over for a final try and Hove looked out of it. The conversion by the number 15 saw his points total rise to 9 for the game and 2 for that kick and at 8-29 things looked dire.Within a minute or two of the restart, Harvey again powered through and this time referee Gibson agreed with his rightful claim for five points and a quick drop kick saw the added two. Sadly, it was too late for a revival and that was how the game finished.So Hove lost by 14 points – but what was that number earlier? 13. This could have had just one point in it which would have changed the complexion of the game in those final moments. Would we have been so cavalier in chasing the game? I think not. If we also add the disallowed try then you can see that this game was there for the taking. OR hustled and bustled in a way that lower league soccer teams do when playing a Premier Club in the cup. We must learn to deal with this. The fact that we had better forwards and better backs matters for nothing if we don’t use them and play intelligently. We could say that we didn’t have the rub of the green and to an extent that is true as the ball seemed determined to betray us every time it bounced. But that too is part of the game and we have to admit that we were second best in this match and all credit to OR for having a game plan that worked. For the third time this season we have squandered points that were there for the asking and as a result now have 5 league points fewer than we should.I’m sure everyone will reflect on this and react accordingly. I’m sure that Glenn is man enough to accept the criticism of his wayward pass – a feature that is appearing a little too often in our game not just Glenn. We have a cup game against London Cornish next week and then return to league action following that. There is plenty to be pleased about in Hove’s performances this season and it is far too easy for me to stand, watch and criticise. I hope that people understand this is only meant to be constructive and that my fervent hope is for this team to win and get promoted – and the same next year.