After a pre-training rallying of the troops on Thursday by the DoR, the Moose were motivated and pumped for a pre-season encounter with Newbury RFC. By arriving in plenty of time due to some excellent minibus driving, the forwards were able to cohesively practice the new line out calls, which would go on to pay dividends in the match. Meanwhile the backs passed a ball between themselves. Scouting the opposition from the other side of the pitch, Newbury brought a weighty and acromegalic pack – this would be a physical game.
From the first few phases the Moose dominated, having the bulk of possession and territory but with very little reward. Deadlock was broken by Dr Wand who scored from a magical new line out call, proving that attending Moose training as opposed to Gophers can occasionally be useful. The Moose were even on top when it came to scrum time with MedSoc’s newest and most beloved society PropSoc out-strengthening their opposite YourenotevenmyrealdadSoc. The backs were also in the tries with Dr Parry breezing past his opposite number on the wing.
The bulk of the tries came in the second half with DoR scoring from a line out maul, which even got an appreciative mention on Newbury RFC’s twitter page. Bank scored what may well become the season’s most boring try by exploiting Newbury’s lack of guards at ruck time, while other members of the backs exploited Newbury’s gaps in defence and lack of speed to go over.
Newbury also scored at some point, but no one cares about that.
Apparently the ref said the score didn’t reflect the game – the Moose should have scored more.
Final score: 45 - 5
Tries: Wand, Parry, Bank, DoR, Drill, Polish Joe & David Griffiths
Conversions: Bank (5/7)