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First half blitz
patrick tyson17 Feb 2019 - 08:14
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Anselmians 17 De la Salle 24
Della travelled to the Wirral peninsula to take on Anselmians, a club like Della who won promotion last season. And like Della have found life at level six very difficult indeed,Saints as they like to be called sit one place above bottom club Della but have three wins to their credit where Della had just the one prior to today. Della arrived nice and early at the Vauxhall motors sports club where the game would be played, to find a superb playing surface and a beautiful sunny day with no wind ,so it was game on.Della as is their norm were in confident mood despite their lowly league position, the self belief in this side is truly amazing.Saints were fielding a big bull dozing pack, and straight from the start their tactics would be to try and bludgeon a path through the Della defence.However the Salford lads had other ideas and put a marker down straight away stopping any forward movement from saints on the tackle line . However in the first exchange Della second row Bryn Hughes had to leave the field with a suspected broken thumb and was replaced by Chris Petrou. And when Della got their hands on the ball they immediately went into attack mode pulling the big Saints forwards across the field , forcing a scrambling defensive line and wining a penalty , from the penalty Della put pressure on the home defence and were looking to break the line when stand off Jay Boyd put in a perfectly weighted cross kick which the home fullback carried over his own line to give Della a five metre scrum. And then something i haven`t seen for quite some time the Della pack destroyed the home scrum and drove over the line for number eight Paul Berry to touch down 0-5. That score lifted Della and from the restart attacked with renewed vigour, next up was Della`s impressive centre Josh Hill who collected the ball i his own half and set out on an impressive run deep into the home half where he off loaded to fellow centre Lee McCormick who inter passed with brother Luke almost to the line and when Lee was tackled just short of the line he popped the ball up to scrum half Ben Riley who went in close to the posts , with Jay boyd adding the extras 0-12.Della were truly in the driving seat now and had virtually destroyed the home scrum and line out and had used their possession to good effect. And all Saints had to show for their effort was a penalty 3-12 With the half drawing to a close Della struck again ,once again the pack gaining the upper hand and allowing the backs to spread the attack culminating in fullback and captain Ben Wheeler racing through the defence to score, the conversion was missed as were the earlier one plus two penalties which would make for an interesting finish later in the game 3-17.
The start of the second half the referee who had had a superb first half seemed to adopt a different attitude for what ever reason caused it i couldn`t tell from the touch line maybe unwanted comments? only the ref will know but a change there was suddenly Della were leaking penalties at almost every breakdown, where as in the first half Della were enjoying ball at the breakdown know they were being marched back wards. However when they got their hands on the ball the home side could not cope with the open running of the Della backs and when scrum half Ben Riley collected the ball in his own half and set out on a path through the defence it was stand off Ben Wheeler on his shoulder to take the pass that would open up the line for him to score the bonus point try which Petrou converted 3-24.At this point with ten minutes gone in the half the penalty count against Della began to climb to worrying levels ,added to this two yellow cards and Della would face a torrid half hour.Where as in the first half Della were on the front foot the constant penalties were giving Saints field position and ball all of which Della had previously denied them, Saints put the ball to good use running two tries from close quarters 17-24. The second try was controversially awarded the conversion by the home touch judge which the ref allowed to stand a kick that had clearly missed by some distance.Now Della had to face the final ten minutes defending which they did with an heroic effort, and yet the penalty count still climbed higher to a bemused set of Della players and more so the coaching staff and supporters. To be fair Della had two penalties of their own albeit just over the half way to try and stretch the scoreline however both were missed.In the dying minutes on the refs watch Della had to defend their line with every sinew of their bodies and after each stoppage when you thought the final whistle would blow ,another penalty and another until eventually Saints knocked on and the final whistle blew.
This was a fine win for Della on the road, it would have been a great win without the disappointing amount of penalties awarded in the second half only one man can explain how he saw the game unfold, but it was a mystery to me how it went?
The first half Della blitzed Anselmians who at times looked as though they didn`t know whether they wanted a Poo or a Haircut ? Della for their part were peerless and i for one could not find any culpability for the total of thirteen penalties awarded against them to the three awarded against Saints.
You could award the Della man of the match to a number of players and yet i feel that it was the pack that laid the foundation for this victory so it is to the full eight that the plaudits go. And as for the post match schoolboy comments form certain sectors, we are going to report you for this or that ,grow up and live with it , it`s a tough sport and both clubs are in a tough spot, we are both more than likely to be relegated, so as i say live with it mud slinging is for those with no bottle ?
The start of the second half the referee who had had a superb first half seemed to adopt a different attitude for what ever reason caused it i couldn`t tell from the touch line maybe unwanted comments? only the ref will know but a change there was suddenly Della were leaking penalties at almost every breakdown, where as in the first half Della were enjoying ball at the breakdown know they were being marched back wards. However when they got their hands on the ball the home side could not cope with the open running of the Della backs and when scrum half Ben Riley collected the ball in his own half and set out on a path through the defence it was stand off Ben Wheeler on his shoulder to take the pass that would open up the line for him to score the bonus point try which Petrou converted 3-24.At this point with ten minutes gone in the half the penalty count against Della began to climb to worrying levels ,added to this two yellow cards and Della would face a torrid half hour.Where as in the first half Della were on the front foot the constant penalties were giving Saints field position and ball all of which Della had previously denied them, Saints put the ball to good use running two tries from close quarters 17-24. The second try was controversially awarded the conversion by the home touch judge which the ref allowed to stand a kick that had clearly missed by some distance.Now Della had to face the final ten minutes defending which they did with an heroic effort, and yet the penalty count still climbed higher to a bemused set of Della players and more so the coaching staff and supporters. To be fair Della had two penalties of their own albeit just over the half way to try and stretch the scoreline however both were missed.In the dying minutes on the refs watch Della had to defend their line with every sinew of their bodies and after each stoppage when you thought the final whistle would blow ,another penalty and another until eventually Saints knocked on and the final whistle blew.
This was a fine win for Della on the road, it would have been a great win without the disappointing amount of penalties awarded in the second half only one man can explain how he saw the game unfold, but it was a mystery to me how it went?
The first half Della blitzed Anselmians who at times looked as though they didn`t know whether they wanted a Poo or a Haircut ? Della for their part were peerless and i for one could not find any culpability for the total of thirteen penalties awarded against them to the three awarded against Saints.
You could award the Della man of the match to a number of players and yet i feel that it was the pack that laid the foundation for this victory so it is to the full eight that the plaudits go. And as for the post match schoolboy comments form certain sectors, we are going to report you for this or that ,grow up and live with it , it`s a tough sport and both clubs are in a tough spot, we are both more than likely to be relegated, so as i say live with it mud slinging is for those with no bottle ?
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