Sheffield Medicals RUFC 15 – 6 Bramley Pheonix.

On a Blustery afternoon in late January Medics met one of only two teams to turn them over this season, Bramley Pheonix. Many of the Medics XV were still smarting from the reversal away at the beginning of the season, and were raring to go, especially after having a week off previously, due to being wimps and not wanting to play on a frozen pitch. A thoroughly enjoyable day was still had by all, mainly thanks to Mr and Mrs Finan providing bacon butties and a TV showing Heineken Cup Rugby… Any way back to this week, following an early meet, Medics made their way to a windswept Fortress Norton.

The first half kicked off with the hosts playing into the wind. Good wind assisted kicks from the visitors saw them sustain pressure in the Medics half. Spirited defence helped keep the visitors away from the try line, but moments of indiscipline gave the Bramley 10 two opportunities at the posts, which he took full advantage of. 6-0 to the visitors. Medics persisted with their running rugby style, making a few breaks. On a number of occasions the final pass was just not quite there, with Tim ‘Top of the Morning’ Geraghty dropping a perfectly good pass from Alex ‘Sonny’ Fawdry. That is definitely what happened, no argument… Finally their endeavours paid off, with a good break flicked through a number of hands, and magically finding its way into Joe ‘Teflon’ Gaynors hands. Luckily his hands weren’t as slippery as usual and he managed to hold off the final defender to go over in the corner. Conversion missed into a difficult wind.

Halftime Medics 5 – 6 Bramley

The second half saw the hosts with the wind in their sails. Yay Mac used his thunderous boot to good effect to keep the medics firmly in the Pheonix half. Sustained pressure through a number of good rolling mauls from the slick lineout led to Yay Mac darting through to the line, only to be adjudged to lose the ball in the act of scoring. Fortunately advantage was being played, and from the resulting lineout, Ali ‘Overly aggressive’ Shaw found his way over the line from short range. With the wind still playing a large part Medics continued to pressurise the visitors. A naughty line from Tom ‘Sheffields tallest man’ Pigott saw the defence part like a group of girls when Dave Ellis tries talking to them, and he crashed over. Unfortunately the conversion was again missed. Maybe Ted had been doing a kicking masterclass… The Medics then pressed for the crucial 4th bonus point try. When awarded a penalty with a minute or so to go, the referee attempted to emulate Chris White in Wales vs Italy (2007) and blew for time when the ball was kicked into touch, seconds after confirming there was time for a line-out. Oh well.

Following a good win against a tough opposition, Medics look to the next few weeks of tough games, with the other team to defeat them this season, Rotherham Pheonix visiting in two weeks.

Alex Fawdry

Poet Laureate 2011/2012

p.s. Sorry there is not more details in here, I’m really unsure what happened in the majority of the game…