Last minute win for Law in season opener

The Law Society 1st XV kicked off the start of their regular season with a hard fought win against Old Freemen’s RFC. This followed a successful summer where Law had picked up silverware in the City Beach rugby tournament and the Surrey 10s tournament. The first league fixture was in the idyllic setting of Freemen’s school and the Law started the game with all the momentum they had garnered in the latter stages of last season.

Early periods of strength from the law saw them progress up the field and into the danger zone. The ref blew for a 5 metre penalty and Maclean got his little flippers on the ball early for his first tap and go penalty of the season, he quickly offloaded to Doran who used his power and reach to touch down in the corner. The kick was made from out wide by new Law Society signing Robin Eager. The law continued to play well and midway through the first half a midfield lineout lead to a classic driving maul from which the backs were unleashed and an excellent move started by Fly Half Mackenzie Davis saw Eager put into space one on one with the fullback, a crisp draw and give to Ben Campbell gave the Law their second score as Campbell paced over the line (try unconverted). True to Law Society form the team seemingly eased off the gas and through a series of penalty offences Old Free’s were hammering on the Law try line. The mighty were resolute in defence for some time however eventually the referee awarded a penalty try to OF’s making the scores 12-7 heading into half time.

A bizarre succession of kick offs followed by penalties began the second half; 3 points to Old Frees followed by 3 points to the Law followed by 3 points to Old Frees. The law struggled to click in attack as they battled to protect and extend their 15-13 lead. With 20 minutes to go a turnover lead to a breakaway try down the wing for Old Frees, score unconverted. Shortly after Doran saw yellow from the referee partly for his attempted intercept which lead to a deliberate knock on and partly as penance for the teams combined offences. The resulting penalty was kicked by Free’s and they took their lead to 6 and now with an extra man on the park. The Law attempted to close the gap with a penalty of their own that missed hitting the upright. The Law were clearly under the cosh with OF’s attacking in their 22 looking to close out the game when Campbell went for an all or nothing intercept and knocking the ball down and bouncing it up into his hands for a 50 yard break up the field. The Freemen protested however the referee made his most curious call of the match in declaring that the ball had gone backwards before bouncing into the arms of Campbell (who himself was running forward); the Law had nothing to say about the decision (for once!). A bit of handbags at the next lineout saw OF’s replacement prop go to the bin in the same play that Doran returned to the field. The Law were determined to exploit this two player switcheroo and through a series of driving plays made their way up the field. Following a 5 metre scrum in the dying moments of the game the Law pack picked and went through multiple phases until Captain Rick Armstrong crashed over for a typical yet brilliant 1 yard out try. Eager nudged the extras from under the posts and the match was the law’s! 22-21 the final score. Though they made difficult work of the game the Law were deserved winners with a number of strong performances across the squad.