Men’s 1st XV v Old Reigatian 20/12/2008

Away – London 3 South East

Report by Andy Ward

Won 24-17

Tis the season to be jolly, tra la la, tra la la la – or whatever!

After being beaten by OR on their visit to Hove on 15th November, one and all were intent on reversing that deed. The last game to be played in the league this year and we needed a win and we wanted a win.

Travelled up to the game with Stotty and apart from one brief excursion into Morrison’s car park (why do people go shopping on a Saturday?) we found the OR ground with little problems. The OR Club had been having a ceremony to cut the first sod in the building of their new Clubhouse, and so we sent our old sod to represent and to drink all their wine! (Sorry Bas – just too good an opportunity to miss!)

The game was delayed by a couple of minutes as someone had forgotten to bring a ball, but a degree of shouting at people seemed to do the trick and some lad was dispatched to find an appropriate ovoid and to present it to the referee for scrutiny. Such scrutiny having been performed and said ovoid being deemed acceptable according to the referee and it was Game ON!

OR kicked off the game and were in the ascendancy in the first quarter of the game helped it has to be said by a couple of silly mistakes from Hove. After 8 minutes of play, the ball came out to the OR 11 on the touchline near me and a miss tackle by Matt let him get a yard and then he was too quick for the chasing pack and went over in the corner for the first score of the game. The kick proved beyond the OR 13 – who had been the nemesis of Hove at the recreation ground – and who was to have a poor game today.

Hove kicked off and soon a scrum was ordered just our side of the half way line. The ball came out and was being passed down the line when it was intercepted by an OR player (offside, or what!). Didn’t catch his number but he broke through the wrong footed defence for an easy score. With the try being between the posts, the OR 13 had little trouble slotting the ball over and Hove were 12-0 down with only 12 minutes on the clock.

At that rate it could have been 80-0 after the full game and so the Hove boys knuckled down and started to play rugby. A couple of penalties were awarded for offside – a bit of a feature of the game – and then Hove made the breakthrough. The ball was worked out to the Hove right and we had several good phases of play which culminated in James Finlason picking the ball up at the base and charging the five metres through a tangle of bodies, twisting and turning and getting the ball down to the referee’s satisfaction and being awarded the five points. After the couple of missed penalties, Adam’s eye (and boot) had the measure of the conversion and the extra two points were secured.

Almost at the death of the half, A Hove attack was repelled and OR were looking to clear the ball. The defender went to kick but lock Liam Hale read his mind and leaped and successfully charged the ball down. The ball fell kindly and Liam secured it and charged for the line. The defence recovered and tackled Liam and they managed to scramble it out for a Hove throw. A text book move saw the ball thrown to the line, down to the half and then hooker Rory looping and powering over the line for a further 5 points to make honours even going into half time.

The second half started and Hove allowed a little blot on their copy book by letting the OR 14 through in the 8th minute of the half for a try that was to prove ORs last effort of the day. Hove, however, were far from finished.

Five minutes later saw the coaches reshuffle by bringing Sam on for Scott and Hove continued to attack searching for the points with which to secure the game. On the 25th of the half with Hove in the OR 22, Adam tried a speculative drop kick which went wide but was chased by Dave Wattam and as the OR defence dithered, Dave slammed down on the ball to gain a further five points for the Hove account. Sam made light work of the kick and Hove were leading for the first time in the game at 19-17. They didn’t look as though they were going to let OR change that.

In the 28th minute Hove were awarded a penalty on about the half way line and skipper Glen called young Sam over to have a go. It was a big ask and unfortunately Sam lost his right foot as he swung to kick it and thus the chance was missed but well done for having the balls to have a go at it.

A minute later, Adam had another tilt at a drop goal to try and get some more light between the scores but this too was missed. After this, the ball was still in OR territory and was worked out to the far touchline. Rory appeared on the wing (must have been lost!) and scooped the ball and charged at the OR line falling just inches short. Penalty shouted the referee and Hove elected (wisely) to take the scrum and have a shove at a suspect OR pack.

Down went the scrum as someone collapsed it (wasn’t us!) and a further penalty was awarded. Hove were getting a march on and OR were back pedaling when down it went again. Penalty and a scrum again and again Hove started to get product from the shove when bugger me backwards, just like a whore’s draws it was down again. We were approaching Penalty Try area here in my opinion, but the referee elected to award a penalty. This time, Hove were penalised for a knock on and OR had the scrum. Sadly for them, their pack wasn’t man enough and Hove won the ball back and James Finlason picked and surged for the line and got the vital touch down. 24-17. The kick from the touchline was too much and the game restarted with OR now in panic mode. Game chasing never works. You have to do the basics and do them right. The usual daft kicks which come to no avail was all they had to offer and these were dealt with by Hove. An infringement by OR in our half gave us the ball and after checking with the referee, the ball was booted into touch and the game was over.

On a day that also saw Purley John Fisher beat Warlingham this was a double celebration. So, performances? Well, despite scoring two tries and having a very good game, I’m not going to give it to James. The pack was immense and stamped its authority on the game. They picked and they drove and then did it again and again eating up the yards and getting into positions from where you can score. That’s how it should be. Its not champagne, but it is rugby. It may not always be pretty but it DOES win games.

So, who in the pack? Well, as usual Harvey was always there as some of the OR players will be feeling this morning. I thought Glen had his best game for a few weeks. The front row was solid and were easily shrugging off the imports from OR and Rory’s try was a good one. The locks were immense and I don’t think we lost one of our lines, but the man of the match goes to the only forward who I haven’t mentioned so far for his effort, leadership, continual barracking and bollocking of people and showing by example. An excellent game by Dave Wattam.

So, keep it up chaps, have a great Christmas and New Year and we have Eastbourne at home on the 10th January when all cobwebs will need to have been removed. Eastbourne may not be on top form at present but they always save something when they play Hove.