Sheffield RUFC 56 - 28 Nuneaton RFC

Sheffield RUFC 56 - 28 Nuneaton RFC

Team Selection for Saturday, 8th October 2016

15. Fergus Wood
14. Rupert Broadley
13. Ben Shore
12. Gareth Morley
11. Alastair Womack
10. Andy Hodgson
9. Steve Depledge

1. Tobi Amemakin
2. Sam Graham
3. Dan Rylance
4. Dom Parsons (Capt)
5. Ryan Seabright
6. Tom Womack
7. Matt Adcock
8. Jonny France
Replacements
16. Tommy Marples
17. George Wagstaff
18. Jacob Strang

Last week's match with Longton was dominated by a desire by both teams to play fast open rugby and Sheffield found themselves in a similar scenario with Nuneaton. Sheffield were to be without flanker Alex Fawdry and second row Dave Clayden which would not help their lineout. Ryan Seabright moved up from the back row to second row and Matt Adcock made his season league debut in their place. Tobi Amemakin and Tommy Marples switched places in the front row and on the bench. Harry Pratt was late withdrawal and Ben Shore moved up off the bench to replace him in the centre with Jacob Strang coming in on the bench. Joe Cribley remains on the injury list for the fourth Saturday in a row.

The open style of play was apparent from the very beginning, but so was some less than spectacular tackling. Sheffield were first to take advantage and were soon on the score board, with 4 minutes gone, when Ben Shore went over wide out on the left. Scrum half Steve Depledge added the conversion and Sheffield were ahead by 7 points to nil. However, Nuneaton hit back straight from the kick off, with a try through their left wing, Josh Palmer, who scored out on the left. Centre, Jacob Knight added the conversion and the scores were tied at 7 points all with just 5 minutes gone. The mayhem continued and Sheffield broke through again just 3 minutes later when number 8, Jonny France made a break and finished the opportunity himself. The try was wide out on the left again, but Steve Depledge added the conversion and Sheffield led by 14 points to 7. Sheffield were then awarded a penalty for holding on at the breakdown, and Steve Depledge did the honours again to increase the lead to 17 points to 7 after 12 minutes. With Sheffield's line out misfiring slightly, Nuneaton were able to secure an over measure of possession and were able to break through some profligate tackling and were again able to get over Sheffield's try line, once again through their left wing, Josh Palmer. Jacob Knight added the conversion again and the lead was reduced to a mere three points at 17 points to 14 after 18 minutes.

The match moved from end to end as both teams worked hard to find an opening in the opposition's defence. Sheffield were awarded s penalty bur lost the ball at the resulting line out, allowing Nuneaton to stage a further attack down the right side of the field, but just as it looked as if Nuneaton would score, flanker Tom Womack intercepted a somewhat speculative pass and raced away from the Sheffield 22 to score at the other end. Steve Depledge added the conversion and Sheffield had, rather luckily increased their lead to 24 points to 14 after 23 minutes. This latest score seemed to take the wind out of Nuneaton's sails and Sheffield were now dominating both territory and possession, allowing loose-head Tobi Amemakin to score on 29 and 33 minutes, with Steve Depledge added the conversion for the first of the two tries, to take the score out to 36 points to 14. Things got no better for Nuneaton as Steve Depledge added a penalty on 36 minutes and then a conversion on 40 minutes when Ben Shore went over for his second try out on the right, to take the score at half time to 46 points to 14.

A half time team talk by the Nuneaton coaching team had an obvious effect with Nuneaton pushing Sheffield back to their own try line through an couple of penalties, allowing the opportunity for scrum half, Thomas Smitham to dive under the stretched Sheffield defence under the posts. Jacob Knight converted and the lead was reduced to 46 points to 21 after just 3 minutes of the half. However, the resurgence was halted when Nuneaton's 12, Rob Cook was sent to the sine bin for persistent playing the ball at the breakdown on 45 minutes. Sheffield were able to take advantage just 4 minutes later when after some good work from the forwards, Ryan Seabright went over just to the left of the posts. Steve Depledge added the conversion and the lead was back out to 53 points to 21.

Nuneaton began to dominate at the scrum and Sheffield were put onto the back foot for a time, but some very rigorous defence and some naive thinking from Nuneaton kept the score unchanged as Nuneaton camped on Sheffield's try line with scummage after scummage and found themselves being held up over the line on several occasions and did not score until the 61st minute, when eventually the Nuneaton number 8 went over under the posts. Jacob Knight converted and the score was now 53 points to 28. Sheffield however, were not done and refused to capitulate and after getting themselves into a good position on the Nuneaton line, lost the ball and were repulsed having turned down the opportunity to kick an easy penalty chance. However, a second penalty came their way after a few minutes and on this occasion Steve Depledge added the three points, to take the score out to 56 points to 28 after 73 minutes. The game saw no more score and Sheffield were delighted to have won this match by 56 points to 28, and having scored 7 tries in the process, and 15 tries in two weeks.

Scoring:-