Powergen Recollections
OA's Make Quarter
Final
Saturday 18th January 2003
Old Alleynians
13
Streatham and Croydon
6
Powergen Junior Vase Round 6
Following defeat in the league the week before
and the end of our unbeaten run the team responded with a magnificent effort to
keep the dreams of Twickenham alive for at least a few more weeks. Their were a
number of changes from the previous Saturday. John Hanna returned from
injury to the wing where his physical presence had been sorely missed. The pack
was bolstered by the presence of Mark Easter and John Nurse both of whom had
made long trips to answer the call to arms. There was also an enforced change at
half back with Dilwyn Sheers moving up to scrum-half and Tim Sandars moving
back to probably his best position at Fly-Half.
Streatham who had
won comprehensivly the week before may have underestimated their task before the
game but knew they were in a real match this time from the start. Having played
the referee very well the week before they also failed to adapt to being pulled
up for offside and killing the ball and gave away a costly stream of penalties
in the early stages.
The main feature of the OA's performance was a
fantastic defensive display with everyone putting in big and crucial tackles
when it really mattered. The OA's only try came from Giles Burris who stretched
out from close in to place the ball on the line the referee once again well
position despite the clawing mud raised his arm and we were on our way. Tim
Sandars converted and shortly afterwards added a penalty to make it
10-0.
Then came the only wobble in the performance as one of the
Streatham players burst through on the 22 crossed the line virtually
unchallenged and placed the ball down under the posts 10-7. Those of us who have
been watching the OA's for many years feared the worst.
Our worries were
unfounded however as Tim Sandars stretched the lead again with another penalty
and Streatham's efforts became more and more desperate in the face of an heroic
effort by the whole team.
One
should of course mention the long
break in the game just before half-time when the Steatham hooker was injured as a scrum
was coming together an ambulance had to be called and there was a wait
of at least 20 minutes. We hope that the injury is not too
serious and wish him well.
OAs storm into Semi Final
Saturday 22nd February 2003
Old Alleynians 28
Hitchin 7
Powergen Junior Vase - Quarter Final
The club returned to it's winning ways in this hard
fought match on the back of two league defeats.
The blues
started well, playing into the sun, against a strong Hitchin pack and were able
to get the first points on the board from a penalty by Tim
Sandars.
Hitchin responded with a converted try
following some hard scrummaging and driving mauls. Some good runs by the backs
saw the Alleynians get close to the line on several occasions, only to fall at
the last hurdle in this high pressure game. Sandars' boot once again found
another 3 points from a penalty to take the score to 6-7.
The first Alleynian try was eventually found from a solid team effort, Easter
touching down and the try duly converted by Sandars. Before half time Marcus
Whyte added 5 points to the scoreboard taking the home side 18-7 into half
time.
The second half saw yet more solid play
from the Alleynians, and a great move saw the home side come close to scoring,
to be denied by a penalty. The three points were readily accepted though, to
stretch the lead to 14 points.
The last try of
the day came from another good break by Whyte who offloaded to fly-half Tim
Sandars to score and then add the conversion to bring the score to
28-7.
Hitchen played to the last, and a long
series of defensive kicks saw a number or lineouts being contested. John Nurse
performed particularly well in this area, often snatching the ball from the
opposition throw. Matt Vale worked hard in the loose and the entire pack put
every effort into rucks and mauls. The backs were led by scrum half Tim Dux, who
commanded a great performance, forcing the pace throughout the game. Some lovely
jinking breaks from Parkes and Joy confused the Hitchin defence on several
occasions.
All in all this was a great day for the club;
a performance to be proud of, a big crowd and a return to the use of the main
bar for the first time since the fire in January. We await the semi at home
against Bradford Salem on 15th March with anticipation.
Pride and Passion win through in
Final
Saturday 12th April 2003
Old Alleynians
16
Shipston-on-Stour 10
A hazy, lazy April morning as Dulwich decamped en
masse, swapping SE21's 'House of Pain,' for 'Fortress Twickenham.' An
extraordinary run in the Powergen Junior Vase had seen the Alleynians defeat all
comers; many sides from leagues above, ready to face Shipston-on-Stour, two
rungs above them on the Rugby ladder.
Though the start
was unseemly early, an ebullient crowd of nearly five thousand saw the hometown
favourites storm into a three-nil lead with a fortuitous penalty goal from Tim
Sandars, that bounced over off the crossbar. There followed a period of
sustained pressure from Shipston-on-Stour, their heavier pack gaining the upper
hand and despite resolute defence, something had to give. A series of rapid
pick-and-drive rucks from the Shipston eight led to their hooker being driven
over the line. The simple conversion made the score 7-3. Where some sides might
have sought out the nearest towel, this side, emulating their skipper James
Franklin, responded with a display of dashing brio.
The
guile and grace of Tims' Dux and Sandars, the hard running and juddering tackles
of Mike Joy and Nick Easter led wave upon wave of attack. As Shipston felt the
direction of power shifting the penalty count against them grew. Still, the
Alleynians were not able to translate this first-half territorial advantage into
points, twice electing for scrums close to the Shipston line when points were on
offer.
After glory-boy Chris Parke had spurned
the most blatant overlap since Mark Taylor against England, Shipston briefly
broke the Alleynian's vice-like grip to convert a harshly awarded penalty. At
10-3 down were we seeing the flattery inherent in
deception?
The second half was to provide the
answer. The first Alleynian try came after more fine work from the tight five.
Matt Vale and John Nurse superb in the lineout, the front row more than holding
their own in the scrums; all prompted and conducted by the sublime skills of
man-of-the-match Tim Dux at crum-half. A hoisted Sandars bomb caused confusion
amongst the Shipston back three, the full back completely misjudged the bounce
and wing Jon Hanna collected to crashed over in the corner. Sandars could not
convert from a tricky angle. By now, everything was flowing the Alleynian's way.
After serial rucking phases and bulwarking forward drives, from a ruck under the
posts the ball was spun out via back rowers Giles Burris and Tom Harding to Jon
Hanna, who glided in for his second try.
13-10
up and with victory in sight Tim Sandars coolly slotted a drop goal, having
fluffed his lines with a previous attempt more akin to a Bill McLaren
haggis-based metaphor. 16-10 and the game was up for Shipston. A day where guile
and passion combined with dogged determination to produce a performance that
will live forever.
The crowd roared and sang
themselves hoarse, as (Yarni strode onto the field) James Franklin collected the
trophy to the strains of Pueri Alleynienses and then got on it in one almighty
fashion.
| Under 15 Match reports
OAs v Bexley (home)
28th September 2003
The first match of the season, after three weeks of training when we were lucky
to get 12 players regularly turning up! We had beaten Bexley at the
beginning of last season, but lost to them in the Kent Preliminaries in April,
so we weren't quite sure how things were going to turn out.
From the very beginning of the game the team attacked Bexley. They
were overpowered in the scrum. They were never given any time on the ball
when they were in possession, and as a result we won a lot of opposition
ball. On our starts, the ball was placed perfectly and our runners were on
to it before Bexley could react. It wasn't long before we got the first
try, which was converted by Alex Haslam with an excellent kick from a very
difficult angle. Bexley did not manage to get on the score sheet in
the first half, and we added three more tries, of which two were
converted.
The second half saw a try from Bexley and another three from the OAs, who were
really running rings around a thoroughly demoralised opposition by now.
The final score was 41-5, not a bad result for the first game of the
season. Sadly, Zak Nouri had to come off with what looked like a
dislocated finger, but was in fact a break - we wish him a speedy
recovery. Ditch was keen to relocate the finger there and then but luckily
for Zack he was persuaded not to!
Sevenoaks v OAs
(away)
5th
October 2003
We knew
that Sevenoaks were a pretty formidable side, and perhaps went to Sevenoaks in
the wrong frame of mind, expecting the worst. It was a pretty cold
morning, and we only had about half an hour to warm up, once the squad had
faffed around putting on their boots, sorting out shirts etc. It didn't
help that the game started a little earlier than planned, at the home side's
request.
It was a
very bad start. All the training ground drills were forgotten as a very
fit, very organised Sevenoaks started as they meant to go on, right up in our
faces. They had scored their first try within the opening five minutes,
and before we knew it they had scored another three or four. Although the
pack was holding its own, apart from some problems in the line-out, the
Sevenoaks flankers were so quick off the mark that as soon as the ball was out
they were on to it, and our moves were breaking down straight away.
By half time we were six tries
down, although there were signs that things were looking bleak. However,
the team was properly warmed up by now, and they were quite fired up. They
knew they were not doing justice to themselves. The second half was very
different. We began to string some good phases of play together, and kept
strong pressure on the Sevenoaks side. Eventually the ball came to John
Pianta who powered past three or four defenders and scored a fine try. OAs
scored another two tries, as did Sevenoaks, and John had another perfectly good
try disallowed because the ref was too slow! By the time he'd arrived a defender
had got his arm under the ball.
As far
as we were concerned, we "won" the second half three tries to two, and if the
game had gone any longer we might well have won the match!
Anyway,
a gutsy performance from the team, good levels of fitness, and unlike on some
previous occasions, they kept fighting to the end. A good all-round team
display (despite the result).
OAs v Dartfordians
23rd November
2003
It had been raining solidly for
36 hours, and the rain continued throughout pre-match training and the game
itself.
The game
started in the best possible way with a try from Festus within the first five
minutes. He ran the ball from just inside the Dartford half, before they
could accustom themselves to his pace. The try was converted and we were
7-0 up.
A
sustained period of pressure followed, and the OA s were camped on the Dartford
22 for much of the first half. Dartford lost several scrums and only
last-ditch defending was able to prevent another OA score. In the end
something had to give, however. After another period of pressure the ball
came to John about 10 metres from the Dartford line and with a typical powerful
surge through the middle he scored. This time the conversion did not go
over the posts. 12- 0 to us.
Towards
the end of the first half it may be that we took our foot off the
accelerator. Dartford won a series of penalties and gradually drove
the play down towards the OA try line. Despite some brave defending, the
Dartford pressure paid off and they scored just before half time. Try
converted - 12-7.
Again,
for much of the second half the OAs were playing in the opposition half.
The pack was regularly driving Dartford off their own ball, and only staunch
defending kept us out. Rajeet was doing good work in his new role as
scrum-half, and Yshmael Cruz made a couple of powerful runs through the middle
that could well have led to tries. In the end, Dartford conceded a penalty
10 metres from the line, the ball came to John, and he was unstoppable.
Alex converted and it was 19-7 to us.
The
remainder of the game was spent without either side having the advantage.
We were content to hold on to our lead, and repulsed anything that Dartford
could throw at us. The forwards proved adept in a rolling maul towards the
end. Festus was fed the ball and made another breakaway try, 24 - 7 a great
result.
Good
solid work by the pack, and some nice passing between the backs. A very
good all-round performance in atrocious weather conditions. Unfortunately,
although ITN sent a TV cameraman down to film some "grass-roots" rugby after the
England's World Cup triumph, he arrived just as the game finished so there was
no chance of the OAs U-15s being recorded for posterity! Some very
bedraggled minis had to show off their skills
instead.
| |
RFU.com 
Search
