First Home win

OB’s 61 Harringey Rhino’s 7 Report By M Elliott

Our second home game of the season saw Harringey Rhinos make the journey out from north London for their first visit to our club and one of their first games of the season.

The game was hard fought but the perfect conditions lent them selves to the OB’s free flowing running style of rugby resulting in a large number of tries.
Try Scorers Conversions
Walker Sagomba * 2
Davidson Paulin
Morely *2
Adesiyan * 2 (First tries of the season)
Sagomba
Paulin
Elliott-Gratze (First try of the season)
Cottage
Aylott (First try for the club)

We often focus on the tries scored and the individuals that score them, and sometimes they are the result of an individual’s outstanding skill or awareness. More often they are in effect the result of great team play, forwards battling to win the ball, making the hard yards to gain field position or set a good attacking platform.

This forward work is the basis for nearly all the tries scored and this Sunday was no exception with the OB forwards consistently securing ball and moving through the phases to draw in the Rhino pack. This allowed Beaty to work for a stable base making the decision to keep the ball close in the forwards or release the backs. At other times the forwards took the ball on and then made the pass to let the backs loose with all the OB pack showing their ability to run and pass in open play.

It is then the job of the backs to utilise that ball to best effect drawing the defenders making the passes and running the support lines. On Sunday it was this support play that clearly shone through, with players time and again finding themselves with options both inside and outside a nightmare for defenders. The range of try scorers shows that the players used the support runners making that final pass to guarantee the score rather than simply trying to run it in alone. However a formidable attack needs to be complemented by a robust defence and against a physical Rhino side this was also on show this Sunday. With Walker marshaling his forwards, Beaty and Aylott kept the backs alive to the Rhino attack the defensive line was strong and the tackling again excellent throughout the team. Two other special mentions are required, the first to the Rhino team and coaches, the spirit and commitment of the team throughout the game was exemplary. The second to Paulin and Sagomba whom shared the kicking duties, both kicked extremely well often from out wide and went extremely close with nearly every kick. We would also like to thank the referee who kept the game moving at pace.