| 2nd XV v. Uxbridge II (27-24) |
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| Written by berenger |
| Wednesday, 24 February 2010 16:55 |
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 2nd XV v. Uxbridge II (27-24) Again, the afternoon was a promising one : 2 games at home, a crunch game for "la 2" where a win was compulsory to get us in the quarter final, nice weather and supporters : the dream!After a good preparation, we started the game on a high, camping in their half and scoring an early try after 10-15 min (Nicolas on the far left). Unfortunately, we then relaxed a bit too much letting them in our 22 and they took the opportunity to score with a slow moving scrum from our 5m line : 5-5 after 20 min. The game was a really tough one for the French: we were much lighter than them, which meant that they overpowered us in the scrum and in the line out, and came at us with their tight 5 all the way through. Even though this weight difference also meant that we were quicker, we didn't get much balls to play with, since our platforms were really struggling. Even then, we managed a few moves and scored another try by Emmet, again on the far left, but they came back and hit us hard right after that and scored again. 10-10.  Nearly last play of the first half and on a scrum down to the French at the 40 m line, we win some how, then play tight side with Henri. He Quick’s to follow but is brought out on the touch line. This results in a penalty just out of their 22m. After heroically getting back to his feet Henri goes for 3 points. Beautiful deserved kick.13-10 at half time. Story of the 1st half was pretty clear: we were lacking the discipline to stay focused and stay out of our 22 and somehow lost our concentration and basic reflexes.. On the other hand, when in their half, we managed to create some nice rugby and really bring the danger and put them under pressure. From then on, the strategy was clear: stay in their half, and score every time we did so. This worked really well for us, and we started taking our chances with penalties, and Henri scored overall 12 points which turned out to be absolutely key to our victory. We also saw two magnificent interceptions by Chris Kelly and Remi, the later scoring a beautiful try under the posts. Leading 24-10 at some point in the second half, Uxbridge showed tremendous envy and fighting spirit, and put us under pressure until the very last minute, scoring 2 tries to close the gap, hitting us with all their might and power. Thanks to a great defence from the French, we held it together, and finally won 27-24 : try by Nicolas, Emmet, Remi, 4 penalties by Henri. No man of the match unfortunately as the opposition didn't join us to the pub, but Henri would have been our candidate :-) Farewell to Eric Salmon who played his last game with us : we'll miss you Eric ! Thanks, Your captains |