Sheffield 2nd XV 36 - 0 Yarnbury 2nd XV

3rd March 2012 Sheffield 36 - 0 Yarnbury

Report care of Chris (The Viking) Stanney

Changes all around for the 2nd XV this week as we welcomed back Chris Machen, Ramzey Adamo, Jamie McNab, Al Stevens and Tuni Massi. Skipper Mark Walker, Thomas Metcalf and Ali Womack were all promoted to first team duties this week. The coaching staff went through a few changes of its own. A clear demonstration of Nick ‘Bison’ Hayes game day workload, as it took two people to replace him in the shape of Jason Soden and Martin Wade. Danny ‘give him some cuff’ Porter running the whole show from the side. Although in a gross act of sedition, he suggested we could finish second in the league. To be dealt with at a later date. We also welcomed the youngest addition to the team, as 18 month old Freddie Soden replaced Al Cotton who has gone skiing. The final addition was, it turned out, a disappointingly misread text message as Guy ‘unbelievable Titters’ Titman took on physio duties. Not a girl with unbelievable……….. Moving on.
Yarnbury have had a terrible season, capped off with a humiliating defeat to Wharfedale last week. In response, and their 1st XV on a break, Yarnbury 2nd XV took on a new look. This would do nothing to ease their woes.

The tone of the game was set from the off, Sheffield would dominate the scrums, and while the lineout was a scrappy affair, we would maintain our usual execution. Both teams were launching effective attacks and most of the rugby was being played in the midfield. The deadlock was broken when Rob Holland’s well placed kick put the Sheffield pack 5 yards out. A well taken ball at the lineout and our now familiar 8 man drive allowed Solomon Prestige to drop over the line for try number one. Rob Holland converted from a difficult angle to make it 7-0. The game would continue to be thrashed out in midfield; Yarnbury’s frustrations began to show as pockets of fighting began to break out, the final straw for the referee being a dangerous late tackle on Dan Williams. Ten minutes in the bin for the Yarnbury number 12. Taking advantage of the extra man Sheffield moved forward with purpose, sadly some questionable passing decisions were making us our own worst enemy. Finally in a carbon copy of try number one, the 8 man drive gave Solomon Prestige his second of the day. Rob Holland missed the conversion, half time and Sheffield had a 12-0 lead.

Chris’ The Viking’ Stanney replaced by Ramzey Adamo, Ben Campbell was replaced by Ben Parker following a horrific head injury. The half time talk brought some harsh truths. The next 40mins would see Sheffield raise its game back to a familiar standard. Good pressure from the forwards and improved and controlled passing from the backs, Sheffield were over the line again. This time it was Jamie McNab turn to represent the forwards. There is a rumour he smiled, this is still under intense investigation. Ben Parker kicked the extras, 19-0 and momentum growing. A neck injury to hooker Will Savage meant a couple of positional changes. Chris ‘The Viking’ Stanney moved to hooker, and Roger wood took throwing in responsibilities. Solid line outs once more for Sheffield would give Solomon Prestige his hat trick, Ben Parker missing the conversion, 24-0 and the backs were about to take their turn to jump on the scoreboard.

The next two tries came from fullback Dan Williams, who chipped through on the first and with a great pick up and ran neatly under the sticks. Ben Parker made the conversion, 31-0. Dan Williams second came as most of Yarnbury had believed the ball to have gone dead, the opportunity to snatch up the ball was not wasted and he ran in try number 6, Ben Parker missed the conversion. Sheffield were working hard to make sure Yarnbury went away scoreless. The referee announced the last play of the game; Ben Parker gathered from the back of the ruck and kicked for touch. Small panic and random swearing kicked in as the ball fell short, a shaky final two minutes before the ball went dead. The final score 36-0.
Big thanks to Guy Titman, who had a very busy afternoon and we were all pleased to see he managed to stay vertical.

Finally, the player’s man of the match award goes to Solomon Prestige.

TRY SCORERS
SOLOMAN PRESTAGE (3)
JAMIE MACNAB (1)
DAN WILLIAMS (2)

CONVERSIONS
ROB HOLLAND (1)
BEN PARKER (2)