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Mitcham 25 – 5 Cranfordians Colts
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Sunday 14th December 2008
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The new combined Cranleigh & Old Guildfordians Colts side, now christened Cranfordians Colts, travelled to a cold & wet Poulter Park in South London to play a young Mitcham side mostly comprised of U17s.
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As usual Mitcham were big, strong & uncompromising upfront, but also had a fair amount of pace & skill in their back division, although they were not keen to let them have the ball early on as the Mitcham pack fought to establish a dominant platform.
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The visitors were put under a lot of pressure, both at the set pieces where the Mitcham scrummage was especially strong & also at the lineouts. In the loose play Mitcham harried & generally chose to play to their forward strength, frequently picking & driving around the fringes.
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To their credit the Cranfordians boys fronted up to this challenge well as individuals, but perhaps understandably after just one game & a single training session together are not yet functioning efficiently as units or as a team.
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However, conceding the first try after withstanding about 10 minutes of incessant pressure in their own 22, the visiting half backs were then instructed to kick the ball in behind the Mitcham forwards to turn them around & put them on the back foot.
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This worked well for about 20 minutes until Mitcham decided to counter with some kicking of their own & pinned Cranfordians Colts back in their 22 once again for the remaining 10 minutes of the half, eventually forcing a try as the Mitcham backs got to show what they were capable of, with the visiting forwards refusing to yield on their own goal line, forcing the home side to spin the ball out wide.
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Cranfordians regrouped at halftime & made some changes, bringing Sam Champion & James Lynch onto the wings, with Ed Lampety moving up from fullback to outside centre. Matt Gutteridge, Paddy Montgomery & Phil Fensom all took a well deserved rest & the versatile Nathan Richardson came back on at fullback, having stared on the flank but come off midway through the first half when Nick Hendy returned from the blood bin, with replacement Jacob Woods staying on to add a bit more beef to the pack.
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The second half started with the visitors determined to run the ball & play a more expansive, quicker game away from the Mitcham forwards who were already showing signs of tiring. Unfortunately though this put too much pressure on the handling skills on a difficult day to try to play running rugby, leading to a couple more fairly soft tries for the home side as ball was spilt & a couple of tackles were missed.
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To their credit though, as the Mitcham coach Damian Brady & a number of their spectators commented afterwards, the Cranfordians Colts heads never dropt & they kept on trying to play their rugby, maintaining their discipline when on a number of occasions the home team failed to keep theirs. Brady was not slow to remove the offenders from his team, which thankfully helped to diffuse things & the Cranfordians coach sensibly removed himself to the far side of the pitch to cool down!
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The visitors eventually got their due reward when Denis Woodhouse charged down a clearance kick & his brother Brian, who was Brady’s Man of the Match, followed up to win the race to touch down. Cranfordians could well have had a more couple scores in the final 20 minutes as the home side’s forwards were by now pretty much out on their feet, but they chose to bash the ball up in the centre when overlaps were available out wide.
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Lessons will be learnt & everyone was very positive afterwards about their chances of winning the return match. Next up for Cranfordians Colts is a training session at Wildwood Lane on 21 December followed by a Christmas Curry. After a well earned break they then take on Midhurst on 4 January.
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If the tight five of George Bird, Chris Grubb, James Longbon, Rory Eves & Nick Hendy continue to work as hard for each other & the team they will soon become a formidable outfit, with lock Whitehead to return to contest a starting place in the New Year. In the back row flying flankers Nathan Richardson & Denis Woodhouse both offer tremendous commitment at the breakdown & great support play. With Sean Darby & Jacob Woods contesting the No.8 berth the team have plenty of good options up front to choose from.
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The halfback combination of Brian Woodhouse & Josh Benson is beginning to settle down too & looks increasingly mature as each game passes. As well as their attacking flair they both have tremendous tenacity in defence, which is a big asset to the side. In the centre the running strength of Captain Adam Kersley & Paddy Montgomery is complimented by the pace & guile of Phil Fensom & Jim Lynch, who are both as happy on the wing. Ed Lampety can play centre or full back equally as well.
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Add in the real flyers on the wing Sam Champion & Matt Gutteridge & you have all the constituent parts to make a really competitive team. Once the coaches can get them to work effectively together they will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the second half of the season & are sure to surprise a few sides when they play them again.
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TEAM: BIRD, GRUBB, LONGBON, EVES, HENDY, RICHARDSON, WOODHOUSE D, DARBY, WOODHOUSE B, BENSON, GUTTERIDGE, KERSLEY (C), MONTGOMERY, FENSOM & LAMPETY
REPLACEMENTS: CHAMPION, LYNCH J & WOODS
MOTM: WOODHOUSE B
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