Mids Advance In The Junior Cup

Mids Barbarians style rugby puts Heathens out of the cup

OLD MIDS 62 FAREHAM HEATHENS 10
This was Mids first involvement in the Junior Cup this season, and with the opposition unknown until aftr the previous round and the high profile England versus New Zealand game on the day, numbers available were not as strong as hoped. For similar reasons Fareham had found a trip from the Hampshire coast to East Surrey hard to sell and arrived also with a team far from first choice all round.
The first score came quite soon, with Will Chenery able to jog after a grubber kick that fooled the entire visiting defence, to put Mids 5-0 up. With stereotyping a forethought the impression was that Fareham would control possession without the nippiness to use it, but the 8-9-10 axis was going well for them and it did not take long to draw level. Mids responded through Nathanael Briggs almost immediately, and having settled down, they were finding the gaps in Heathens scratch line up. Max Maynard's elusive run set up Harry Wilson for a third try, and not long after that a yellow card for each team opened up much more space for Mids to exploit. Tries followed for Briggs again and Mark McEvilly to take the half time lead to 34-5.
The second half was not such one way traffic. Mids substitutions took some bulk out of the pack in favour of mobility around the pitch and this allowed Fareham to hold possession in the manner foreseen by having a notable edge in the scrums and a slightly lesser advantage in the lineouts. However, Mids defence in open play remained very stout, and by the time the Fareham scrum dug out a push over try, Jake Bacon and a Rob Farmer brace had already extended Mids score to 55. The last act of the game was Wilson grabbing a second score and converting it himself, to deprive Bacon and Chenery a monopoly of kicking.
Mids team: Hall, Jupp, Bryant; Plumb, Oliver; Muhona, M Maynard, Farmer; Wilson, Bacon; Chenery, McEvilly, Briggs, Jenkins; G Maynard. Subs: Mihremane, Jones, Perry