The grey skies over Oxfordshire today stood in stark contrast to the fireworks on the pitch during today’s match at Harwell. With both teams slightly short of players, an agreement was reached: both teams started with 12 players, dropping both flankers and one back. This ensured there would be gaps in defences and opportunities to exploit.
We are making a habit of starting games well, and today was no exception. Within minutes of the starting whistle, Darren Massey (Lock) took a short pop pass in the Harwell 22, ran straight through a gap and scored our first try. He would soon be over again, with a very similar situation on the opposite side of the pitch. Our early progress continued with Connor (Number 8) breaking through the line with some hard running and crossing over.
As the game wore on, Harwell began to find holes in our defence and discipline. Their first try came off the back of three successive penalties. We weren’t helped by an injury to our scrum half Chris, who suffered a head clash with one of our own players and may have a slightly wonky nose tomorrow! With this overlap and so much space to play in due to the reduced numbers, Harwell were able to exploit the space out wide on several occasions.
About halfway into the match, with the score line becoming increasingly tight, both sides started trading tries frantically. On one occasion we scored directly from the kickoff, with the ball catcher drawing in the defence before making a gentle pop to a player running an excellent support line who broke the line. The ball travelled through several supporting players’ hands before touching down. An attacking scrum in the Harwell 22 was expertly finished off by a switch play from our backline. Several tries resulted from our players simply playing physically and breaking tackles in midfield, chased by excellent support.
The final try was ours, and certainly a team try. Several line breaks were moved on through quick rucks, as the ball moved from the right hand sideline towards the left, finally run over in the corner by Zac (Wing).
At the end of the match, with both teams significantly drained of energy Harwell were a mere 6 points ahead. Over 120 points had been scored. All participants agreed they had enjoyed it!
Our point scorers:
- Darren Massey, 3 tries
- Zac, 1 try, 3 conversions
- Connor, 2 tries
- Jason, 1 tries
- Kieran, 2 tries
- Zebbie, 1 tries
- Tommy, 2 conversions
Final Score
Harwell 66 – 60 Littlemore
Man of the Match
Chris Lewis, who sacrificed his nose to the cause
Honourable Mentions
Tommy, Connor, Kieran, Zebbie and Mark who turned out for us
Comments are closed.