Strength in Depth

Squad: Mike Jennings, Jake Wojtowicz, Mike Peters, Phil Clarke, Richard Tromans, Jack Bullen, Anthony Kalu, Tony Leigh, Tom Seaman, James Munn, Dave Anthony, Gwendal Kalkefou, Fred Orella, Josh Schmidt, Lewis Clarke, Ian Routledge, Mike Bovil, Dan Scanlan, George Hesmondhalgh, Roland Anderson, Alan Sahin.

The Rebels arrived at the cage looking to extend their unbeaten run at the expense of HSBC; a side that have always proven to be tough opposition. Wining the toss the Rebels skipper decided to play into a strong head wind, allowing the Rebels superior fitness and speed to come to the fore in the second half with the wind at their tail.

The first half was a turgid affair with the Rebels edging possession and territory, this despite the wind, the trouble is with little time to gel the numerous changes enforced by injuries and first team call ups, the Rebels turned over ball on numerous occasions, unlike last week this was as much down to knock-ons and forward passes than the solid defence. Expecting to be at a disadvantage in the set-piece the Rebels handily attacked the HSBC scrum and more than once Jake Wojtowicz was able to strike one against the head. As the half wore on it was looking like neither side was going to score until some good passing and running put Josh Schmidt over for the first score, ably converted by James Munn. The half finished 7-0, the Rebels should have had more.

The second half started poorly with the kick off going dead and a scrum back on the halfway (the wind really was that strong). Undeterred by this errant start the Rebels looked to take advantage of the wind kick deep from penalties and hand when possession and play allowed. It was also in the 2nd half when the team began to string better phase play together turning over less and forcing the opposition to give away more penalties. It was from the one of these penalties that a quick tap and go from Jake Wojtowicz resulting in the second score. The last score came as good attacking play put Fred Orella over for the last score of the match. The rest of the half fizzled out as more turnovers by both sides and penalties dominated and neither side really took advantage.

The game done the Rebels are now 9 unbeaten and the solid defence has only conceded 40 points in this time. Well done to all the lads who stepped up from the 3 to fill the holes, thanks to Roland and Dan who were kind enough to bench for the oppo after they refused to let us have 5 subs, apologies to Roland who the oppo refused to use for more than 5 minutes.

Tries: Fred Orella x1, Josh Schmidt x1, Jake Wojtowicz x1

Conv: James Munn x1

Pen:

M.O.M: Jack Bullen – just an immense all round game

D.O.D: Stu Buckley – Annoyed the ref so much that was asked to shut up whilst on the sideline. Then while on the pitch (the ref said 2 minutes worth of time) getting another talking to. Basically lucky to avoid getting a yellow or red card.