Dubs 42 vs. Lightwater 0 (12th April)
The final league fixture of the season saw us at home to Lightwater and looking to make amends for losing the first game. With Lightwater arriving late and struggling to put out a 15 we had an early advantage. The delay kicking off didn't help our concentration and by the end of the hour long warm-up we looked a bit off the boil. With Coops still injured, Dom had the captaincy duties and did his best to get us focused back on the game.
With a clear plan to play at pace and keep the ball alive, we eventually got underway, having elected to go uphill and against the wind to start. The pack started strongly with good initial play in the set piece, particularly at the lineout where Ed was a constant threat at 2 on Lightwater ball and won most of ours despite the windy conditions. The back row was always going to be the key to this game and with Ed, Neil and Ben providing the link between forwards and backs, tries soon followed. The back row bagged 4 between them although there was an (unsubstantiated) allegation of jug avoidance put to Ben who we thought might have got a hat trick rather than the reported two....! Neil was as always devastating from close range and set up a couple as well as scoring himself, and Ed capped a great game with one of his own.
The backs were enjoying being on the front foot and with quick ball coming out from the breakdowns, Ross and Roch (deputising with aplomb at No.10) were given fine ball to distribute. Darren was in his preferred position at inside centre and used his weight to good effect to carve up the midfield and score two good tries, also converting a couple plus a penalty to rack up a personal tally of 17 points. It is testament to the style of play on the day that everyone handled the ball multiple times and we produced more offloads than I've seen in any other recent game, many in very tight play and impossible to defend against for the by now somewhat ragged Lightwater defence. Ross was a constant threat at scrumhalf and took advantage of the loose play to grab a score for himself. The half finished with us comfortably in control at 30 - 0 (ish).
In the second half, Lee came on for Rob at hooker to add some weight to the pack (which was given a good contest by the Lightwater 8 whenever we put in less than 100%), and Sam joined the backs to replace Phil on the wing. With Lighwater having to force the play, we were able to sit back, play our game and let them make the mistakes, content to use the wind and play in their half. Lightwater did threaten our line on a couple of occasions and perhaps should have gone over at least once from very short range, but resolute defending on the line kept them out and we cleared our lines. Neil picked up an injury soon after so we had to re-shuffle with Dom coming into the back row and new Saffa Vince joining the backs to good effect, carrying the ball well and making inroads through the midfield. Ben scored a long-distance effort late on after a Lightwater turnover and the forwards bagged a final score in the last minute to close out the game. Going into this game we needed to win by at least 23 points to leapfrog Lightwater in the table so we go above them to finish in 4th position, equal on league points with Economicals and only behind on points difference.
A great game to finish off the season with some fine handling (Arch would be proud) and confidence evident throughout the team - a pleasure to play in and the spectators were also very complimentary in the bar afterwards. We seem to have settled on a style of play that suits our current strengths and we now need to carry that forward into next season.
Match photos should be posted shortly, courtesy of JD.
RFU.com 
Search
