1st XV
Matches
Sat 02 Nov 2013  ·  Midlands 1 East
Matlock (Baileans) Rugby Club
1st XV
17
26
Bugbrooke
Another won that got away from us

Another won that got away from us

Thomas Hooton3 Nov 2013 - 18:32
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Matlock 17 v 26 Bugbrooke

Matlock welcomed their visitors, league newcomers Bugbrooke to a rain soaked Cromford Meadows. With several players again unavailable a reshuffling of those available saw the starting squad include four prop forwards. The backline saw one change from the previous week Ben Neville slotting back in at centre for the unavailable Dave Hartley.
From the kick off it was clear that the visitors were a well organised outfit whose main strength lay in playing set patterns, a system that has obviously served them well so far this season. The first twenty minutes was not a great spectacle but at the end of the first quarter the home side found themselves 12 points down as a combination of some sloppy defence and slippery underfoot conditions saw the visitors to score a couple of soft tries. Matlock rallied for short periods but seemed to have problems in both looking after the ball and executing their own attacking plays. With the lineout again misfiring promising catch and drive opportunities were wasted. The back-line looked dangerous on the few occasions they had good ball but the pack were struggling to provide the platform from which to propel their attacks. Matlock’s only reward in the first half was a long range penalty by Chris Young and they went into half time 3-19 down following a well worked try by the visitors.
As the second half resumed the home side needed to inject some urgency and pace into their game but found themselves 3-26 down when some very sloppy defending in the Matlock midfield gifted Bugbrooke another soft try. With the game all but lost this seemed to galvanise the home side and they began taking the game to their opponents and began to breech the visitors defence. The last quarter of the match belonged to the home side and they were rewarded with two excellent converted tries both scored by Adam Twyford. The first followed a fine midfield break by James Young who cut through the visitor’s backline on Bugbrooke’s ten metre line eventually passing to Twyford in support to crash over under the posts. The second followed five minutes later. Mike Allen made a strong carry before being held up. Dan Hooton was in support and showed good strength taking the ball to within five metres of the line before feeding Twyford to force his way over for another fine try. Matlock continued to push for another score to earn them a valuable losing bonus point and despite them crossing the line in the last minute the referee was unfortunately unsighted and called the ball held up before blowing the final whistle.
All in all this was a really frustrating result for the hosts. A case of leaving things too late and the squad was left to rue a lack lustre first half performance in a game which on another day they would have won. And the injury woes continue, Tom Hooton, Ben Neville and Scott Robinson all left the field with more worrying injuries and after this match there is plenty to work on in training before next week’s important game at fellow strugglers Coalville.
Team: Goodall, Boam, Richardson, Twyford, Ball, Robinson, Crofts, Coombes, Morton, C Young, Packard, Neville, D Hooton, Allen, T Hooton, Subs: Statham , Atkinson, J Young

Match details

Match date

Sat 02 Nov 2013

Kickoff

14:15

Competition

Midlands 1 East
Team overview
Further reading