1st XV
Matches
Sat 13 Feb 2016  ·  Midlands 3 West (North)
Newcastle (Staffs) RUFC
1st XV
43
18
Willenhall
Willenhall visit Castle

Willenhall visit Castle

Gary Turner14 Feb 2016 - 21:33
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Could Castle win at home again ?


This week Castle entertained Willenhall, could they make it 3 home wins on the spin and remain second in the league. On a crisp February afternoon the conditions were almost perfect for a game of running rugby. Castle kicked off and immediately put the Willenhall defence under pressure, the resulting clearance kick gave Castle a lineout just outside the Willenhall 22, Castle caught and drove but were stopped short of the try line and turned the ball over, Willenhall eased the pressure by kicking the ball out.from this line out Castle opted to play off the top and set their backs free, a fine running line from Sam saw him go in close to the posts, Dom converted and the score was 7- 0 with only 5 minutes gone.

Castle were then guilty of taking their foot of the gas and play became sloppy, with to many missed tackles,to much ball lost in contact and to many penalties which kept Willenhall in the game. It was a missed tackles that let Willenhall score two tries, one been converted to take a 12 - 7 lead.

Castle got the lead back through a catch and drive but shortly after regaining the lead they were reduced to 14 men, and thats how the half finished with Castle leading 14-12 but down to 14 men. Strong words were had at half time as Castle were playing way below the standards they had set over the previous weeks.

The second half started where the first left off and the half time words had seemingly fell on deaf ears as another penalty was concerned to give Willenhall the lead. Castle got their man back from the bin but their performance was still below par, coupled with some strange reffing decisions it looked as if it was going to be one of them days.

Castle regained the lead through another Sam Evens try, but quickly concerned another penalty to allow Willenhall back in.,Then to make thinks worse Castle had another man sent to the bin . The ten minutes passed without any addition to the score so with the number even the score stood at 19-18,what happened next was Castle at their best, executing the game plan to the letter resulting in four great tries to make the final score 43-18.

In summary Castle played. 20 minutes of rugby today, 5 at the start of the game and 15 near the end, they played 20 minutes with 14 players and the other 40 minutes are best not mentioned. In the 20 minutes they did play they scored 7 tries, and 4 conversions, which shows the potential of this team . Next week Castle go to leaders Tamworth who surprising lost at Ludlow, if they can play for 80 minutes at the standard they can and keep 15 men on the pitch they can turn Tamworth over and give themselves the chance of winning the league, so let's train hard this week and give ourselves the best chance we can.

Scorers
Ant Cornwall 1T
Ash 1T and 1C
Bails 1T
Sam 4T
Dom 3C

Match details

Match date

Sat 13 Feb 2016

Kickoff

14:15

Competition

Midlands 3 West (North)
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Health & Safety - APT Health & Safety
Nutrition Consultants - Healthier by Farr
Pet Care - Newcastle Pet Care
Skip Hire - Cherry Hill Skips
Holditch Engineering
Club Sponsor - Graham's Machinery Sales