1st Half
Sitting at the top of the table, Norwich Union were the team to beat and the 18 Norwich Medics that rocked up on game day were ready to cause an upset. Receiving the kick-off, the 1st XV made attempts to break out of our own half and to quickly gather some territory. However, Norwich Union overturned the ball and were desperately trying to attack our try line. The opposition tried their best to breach our defence by taking drives off a line out, but thanks to Tom ‘The Wall’ Martin and Tom Ritchie we suppressed the drive to give us breathing space. At 19 minutes, Norwich Union eventually found a gap and scored the first try of the game. We came together as a team to put the mistake past us and fired back straight after. Immediately from the chase, Sam Cobbinah hunted the receiver and made a massive hit which gave us possession. From our structured and relentless attack, we built momentum phase after phase to create try-scoring opportunities. Marc Lyons and Srinivas Suresh were the backbone of the forward pack offensive and were essential to help gain meters. In the back line, Tom Jackson and Joe Boone made strategic counter attacking runs when Norwich Union kicked for territory. After a massive scrum, the forwards secured the ball and it was immediately sent down the back line to allow Tom Jackson to score. This put us back in the game and instilled confidence in our ability to play decent rugby.

NMRFC 1st XV 7 – 12 Norwich Union RFC 1st XV

2nd Half
For the last 40 minutes, the 1st XV did not let their focus slip and worked tirelessly till the final whistle. Our lineouts were heavily contested, but James Chia ensured we kept possession through accurate throwing to the front man. Our rush defence became more aggressive and Norwich Union’s attack struggled to break through our unforgiving defence. Unfortunately, the much heavier Norwich Union pack pushed us back in a scrum and off a quick penalty, the opposition scored. This made the lead much harder to reach, but the boys went back out on to the pitch with an intent to play our game of rugby for the rest of the match. Marc Lyons and Joe Boone were crucial in the cover defence and made sure that no more tries from Norwich Union were to be scored. With 20 minutes left, our substitutes came on and David McFaull made an immediate impact with a run down the sideline. Before the final whistle was blown, we were corned with a scrum in our own 22 and Ben McCartney managed to make one last run to rip through the Norwich Union defence, but the ball was soon lost and the game ended.
NMRFC 1st XV 7 – 19 Norwich Union RFC 1stXV

This much smaller margin compared to our last game against Norwich Union was a result of the valiant effort the boys put out on the pitch. Every single player played till the last minute and it was evident from the tired faces at the end.

MOTM – Tom Jackson – Made huge runs from the counterattack
DOTD – Joe Boone – Too nice of a guy and wanted to help the opposition out