Dubs 54 - Reeds Weybridge 12 (20/10/07)
The ref not turning up wasn't the brightest start to the fixture, but with the opposition supplying a qualified ref the game went ahead.
The sides looked quite evenly matched in the early exchanges, with Reeds keeping it in the forwards and kicking for territory. Determined counter rucking was a feature of their game throughout and with the refereeing of the breakdown somewhat arbitrary at times their forwards were able to get their hands on the ball far too easily at times, spoiling quick ball for us after good initial drives. A strong backs move up the left wing saw us camped on the line and the forwards were able to get over for the first score. With Will van Heerden making a welcome return at No.8, the back row with Ash and Neil started to take control. Will put in some monster hits that rocked Reeds confidence and their attacks lost intensity and focus, with our forwards queueing up to take the ball on from the turnovers. The front row managed to bag a couple from close range and the forward's hunger for the ball, mixed with awareness of when to let it go wide was gratifying to see.
Scrumhalf Ross Haddow (my vote for Man of the Match) then took control and started varying the play superbly, with the backs getting good quality ball and with some very good phases through the hands. Rob was joining the line at every opportunity and the extra man caught the disorganised Reeds defence out time after time with the backs seemingly scoring at will in the late first and early second half. Jamie had some good breaks on the wing and was just held back to prevent a score late in the half. John replaced him in the second half and continues to look a threat, running good lines and hungry for the ball, surely just a matter of time before he is scoring regularly. With Reeds disheartened and their forwards increasingly being kept out of the game by good lineout work by Coops and better work at the breakdown, we had total dominance by the second half.
One or two of the Reeds backline had looked dangerous with ball in hand (left wing and centre) and made the most of limited ball to score two decent tries, aided by lazy Dubs defence in our 22. Fortunately these were little more than consolation efforts but in tighter games we must work to hold concentration in defence.
Coops came out of the bloodbin to leave yours truly in the second row (thanks for that!) and added insult to injury by cantering over in the right hand corner after a well-worked ball through the hands. Ross continued to torment his opposition with a quickly taken tap penalty to go over late on, Neil was ever-present in support with an easy run-in under the posts.
The heartening thing for me as a spectator was the ruthlessness of the second half - whereas we might have settled for a 20-point victory in games past. This league will probably be won on points difference and scoring is a great habit to get into. I couldn't track all the scorers in this ten try spectacle so apologies to those who didn't get a mention, will try to amend once I get more info!
Man of the Match: Ross Haddow
Biggest Hitter: Will van Heerden (by a country mile)
Showboat award: Neil diving in under the posts (totally unopposed, will probably crack a rib if he does it again)
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