Another Saturday another good win for the 4ths and also the second week in a row that the opposition were left with the big Nil ! Our only late change this week was to bring young Tommy Moore into the front row at Hooker and let an old bloke show how the loose head position can be made to look easy. Tommy did not let us down and was involved in a lot of the good moves throughout the game despite having a major blow out in the boot department. Again the forwards totally dominated in the set piece winning opposition line out ball and winning the scrum on either put in which set the platform for some superb handling in the backs.
As was the story last week at Letchworth we put an awful lot of pressure on the opposition line throughout the the first quarter with no reward even though we got over the line 3 times but were deemed to be held up on each occasion. And again as happened last week it was Mick Jones who opened the scoring with a well taken penalty which seemed to spur the team on to start converting the constant pressure in to points. Dermot making yet another come back from injury was off the bench early in the second quarter and made an immediate impact with his strong running and unloading from the tackle and was backed up by another long time absentee Jules who after he had shaken off a bang to the head was back to his usual aggresive and combative self. With Sam Burton at full back mainly spending his time attacking as the Welwyn moves were mostly snuffed out before they got to him the options for the backs were plentiful and taken full advantage of.
The opposition did not even get within 15 yards of our line in the entire game and if our early pressure had been converted in to points this would have been a much bigger win but we scored 3 good tries and in the end were worthy winners. The pick of the tries was from a move off the back of the scrum which sent the ball through the entire back line in a flash with superb handling by all concerned finished off with style by Sam coming in to the line on the wing at speed and scoring in the corner. Simon Elves had another superb match in the line out aided and abetted by his fellow forwards who were all involved in some brilliant mauling play and also some good rucking and more importantly some highly affective counter rucking. Rhino although understandably tired was a constant thorn in the side to Welwyn and played with real passion and conviction and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet having done all the work to get over the line only to be held up by some pesky little hooker.
The other tries were both by Dermot and were both engineered by some forceful forward play backed up with excellent linking by Deon and Magic and then the clinical passing of the back line.Phil Elwood coming off the bench for only his third game was a presence in the scrum and line out but is also starting to go the hard yards with the ball in hand which is very encouraging to see. We gave Dermot the man of the match for his 2 tries but again this was an all round effort with people like Mark Gibson and Simon Goodlad really putting their bodies on the line in the forwards and Jules and Mike Jones making real contributions in the backs.
My major contribution was to bleed a bit and shout a lot but I know that this team can always be relied upon to show real grit and determination which is contributing to one of the best seasons the 4ths have had in quite a few years ! Roll on next week.
Team Simon Elves, Gary Hawtin, Mike Skeels, Philip Elwood, Gary Wearing, Jon Harrison, Mark Gibson, Simon Goodlad, Deon Marevich, Mick Jones, Mel Evans, Mike Jones, Julian Emmerson, Sam Burton, Mark Turner
Subs Tommy Moore, Dermot Coughlan
Scores T: Dermot Coughlan (2), Sam Burton (1)
C: Mick Jones (1)
P: Mick Jones (1)
Player(s) of Match 1. Dermot Coughlan
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