South do the double against Pinley

Match report South v Pinley 11/12/16

As it was a frantic, torrid mornings rugby this report is summarised rather that usual score by score report.

A very reduced sized squad turned out to play our home fixture against a large Pinley squad eager to reverse the defeat they suffered against us earlier in the season.

South started the brightest with some lovely handling allowing Spencer, who is really growing into the centre role, to open his legs, cut through several tackles to open the scoring with a lovely try in the bottom corner.

The South pack started to produce some lovely play, rucking strongly and putting in some fierce tackles, much to the dismay of the Pinley contingent.

Play flowed towards the Pinley 22" when Jack broke through linking well with George who powered over for a well worked try. Callum was spot on with the kick and South were 12-0 up.

Play continued with man of the match Luke, causing Pinley all sorts of problems, running strongly, making lots of ground. Pinley rallied however and play came to the South 22". A scrum followed and Mitch playing at scrum half threw a beautiful pass out to Callum, who fed Sam, who had far too much gas for the Pinley backs, scoring a week taken try in the corner. Another try quickly followed with Morgan powering over to take the score to 22-0.

It had become a fraught match, with some challenging and head scratching decisions being made, Pinley clearly struggling to cope with the physicality of South.

Half time 22-0

From the restart a lack of concentration and some nice play from Pinley allowed their big winger to catch the ball from the kick off and power over for a try in the corner. We had been joined by Ollie (From the u14s) making a guest appearance in the centre. He made some cracking breaks and took the match right back at Pinley. Sam unleashed those legs again and sprinted over for another try, Callum banging over another corker, taking it to 29-5 to south.

Pinley weren't going to give up though and the fly half kept the pressure on, clearing his lines with the boot, but Callum C took some lovely catches and drove straight back at the defence. South were just too strong and physical though and our back row were mowing down the Pinley runners and driving the recycled ball back at them. South were again on the end of some head scratching decisions after Pinley lost some shape and discipline.

South responded well though with Joe ploughing over for a hard earned try. Callum repeated his cracking kicking form and popped over the extra two points.

Final score 36-5 to South.

Lads well done for working so hard on this game, which at times was extremely challenging, not only for you but for us watching aswell. You demonstrated a lot of spirit, when decisions were going against you and the opposition behaviour was challenging. Well done we are very proud of you. We have a massive game next week, with the same squad size, so keep fit, train hard, stay focused and GO FOR IT !

Man of the match this week was Luke Twells, who had a cracking game. Playing at prop he put in some lovely tackles and proved a right menace in the loose. Well done Luke keep it going !

Massive thanks to Kat Kinch who sponsored the man of the match. Absolute star ✨!

Sadly Reece Cropley has suffered a concussion so will be out for five weeks. Take your time mate and you will be back playing in the new year