1st XV
Matches
Sat 24 Mar 2012  ·  Midlands 1 East
Market Rasen & Louth
20
44
Matlock (Baileans) Rugby Club
1st XV
Matlock enjoy away day victory in Lincolnshire

Matlock enjoy away day victory in Lincolnshire

Thomas Hooton29 Mar 2012 - 19:42
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Market Rasen 1st XV 20 – Matlock 1st XV 44

Matlock made the long winding journey to Lincolnshire looking to extend their winning streak to three against this season's new comers Market Rasen who they narrowly defeated earlier on in the season. Matlock welcomed back Neville, Packard, Young, Lane, Richardson and Luke Crofts who was making his first appearance of the season.
Within one second of kick off Matlock had given a penalty away as a Rasen player was taken out in the air. This gave Rasen a chance to kick to the corner and take on the Matlock pack. This time they were unsuccessful however it was a warning of things to come.
Matlock began to gradually make their way into the game and the forwards were settling solid platforms for the Matlock backs. From a scrum in their own half, Matlock spun the ball to Hartley who fed Powell to glide through a gap and draw the last man to the speeding Packard to score under the post. Young converted.
Matlock built on this as Young added a penalty kick from 40 metres out following an encroachment at the breakdown. However a soft sin binning of Croft aided Rasen to up their game and continue their game plan of kick to the corner and drive which they did successfully. Conversion missed. Shortly afterwards some slack Matlock tackles enabled the Rasen forwards to break the game line which was thwarted inches from the line by an excellent Neville tackle, however the ball was quickly recycled and Rasen managed to score out in the corner.
Once back to the full complement Matlock demonstrated they were by far the more creative side and worked their way upfield to be awarded a penalty which Young nudged over.On the stroke of half time Matlock scored their second try as Hartley broke through a tackle and offloaded to Neville to score. Young converted.
The importance of not conceding penalties was highlighted at the interval however 2 minutes into the second half Matlock gave away a penalty for not releasing the tackler which inevitably led to Rasen's kick and drive game resulting in a third unconverted score.
Matlock bounced back and using their superior backs spun the ball to Packard on the half way to drift pass the covering defenders and score in the corner. Young converted. 27 – 15. Matlock were on the receiving end of a disproportionate number of warnings from the referee and eventually Wagg was sent to the sin bin.
Johnson decided to freshen up the pack and introduce Statham for Ball and not two minutes in he was pole axed by the referee in an accidental collision. Amazingly it was Statham who came worse off and Ball had to return to the fray. James Young replaced Morton and Powell made way for Tom Hooton.

Matlock were in the ascendancy and good driving work from Richardson, Cooper and Lane resulted in a field position for Young to slot over a drop goal. Matlock looked to have spurned an overlap opportunity as the ball hit the deck however engine room Twyford had other ideas and scooped up the ball before fending two defenders and sprinted in under the posts gesturing to those left in his wake.
Rasen came bouncing back and the Matlock defence held firm with Hooton and Croft putting in big hits. A penalty was awarded to Rasen and their determination not to be left pointless led to a kick, catch and drive and their fourth try bonus point. Conversion missed.
Matlock had the last laugh as Packard scorched in for his first hattrick of seemingly many more to come for the club. Chris Young's conversion was good which meant a 100% success rate for the day. Man of the match went to Rhino Robinson for numerous bone crunching tackles against the sizeable Rasen forwards.
Next week Matlock entertain Bedford Athletic at home. It is vice president's day so a good crowd is expected. 3pm kick off. The date of Wednesday 11th April, 7.45pm ko has been confirmed for the Derbyshire cup semi final against Dronfield also at home.

Match details

Match date

Sat 24 Mar 2012

Kickoff

15:00

Competition

Midlands 1 East
Team overview
Further reading