Yet another great win by a 4th team sponsored by Neoprene and Anti-inflammatories ! Well some of us are anyway but no one watching this fiercely contested game would have thought so. We have got to know Fullers quite well this season and recently knocked them out of the Cup competition that we are going to win next week so we knew we were up against a team with pay back on their minds. A scrappy first half saw us riding our luck a few times but time after time an individual would step up and save the day with a bit of brilliance. Mike Bestwick was back after a long absence and made his presence felt right from the whistle with some storming runs and a lot of good intelligent play, we also saw the return of young Will Evans at scrum half as relacement for the injured Magic Jones who provided a good few moments of magic himself with some dazzling sleight of hand to get the ball away under pressure. As I have said several times this season its hard to pick out individuals when it has been a proper team performance, but Gary Wearing gave a Man of the Match performance from the second row with a solid performance in the scrum and acting as an extra flanker using his fitness to get to every breakdown. He was always on hand to support the ball carrier and also made a lot of the hard yards him self with ball in hand. A player who has not blessed the pitch with his presence enough this season is Wes Hawkins who scored a couple of cracking tries and who was another who was always in the right place at the right time not being afraid to get involved in the rucks and mauls and generally not playing like a lesbian at all ! The other scores were another fine try by Rhino supporting an attack and finishing it off with a dash to the corner although he had to be told to touch the ball down as it seemed he was heading over the dead ball line, a forceful break in to the clear by Simeon Green left him with a run in under the posts. Craig Jones capped another gritty performance with a try which was made by strong running and good support play enabling him to finish it off in style , the other try was scored by the aforementioned Mike Bestwick and the rest of the points came from the boot of Will Evans who played as though he hadnt been up all night partying and was only sick a little bit. This team has some of the most adaptable players in the club and its hard to think of another team that would have a giant second row lifting a prop in the line out but it works for us and yet again Elvesy had a great afternoon out jumping his opposite number being launched completely out of reach by Simon Goodlad and Phil Elwood. We were up against it in the scrum with Fullers putting on fresh legs during the second half but managed to retain most of our own ball and never gave in to their superior size and strength. So all in all another excellent effort and just the game we needed to set us up for the final next week which I hope will see the return from injury of some of our regulars who have contributed to the good season we have had !
Team Simon Elves, Gary Hawtin, Kevin Edwards, Gary Wearing, Philip Elwood, Jon Harrison, Michael Bestwick, Simon Goodlad, William Evans, Mark Turner, Steve Shaw, Simeon Green, Wesley Hawkins, Kevin Lok, Craig Jones
Subs Anthony Fitzpatrick, Mel Evans
Scores T: Wesley Hawkins (2), Michael Bestwick (1), Simeon Green (1), Jon Harrison (1), Craig Jones (1)
C: William Evans (3)
P: William Evans (1)
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