Whitehall fight hard on the beach for victory

At last Whitehall 1st XV returned to league action with a rearranged game against Gordon League at Foundry Lane.
Richard Haycock, Rich Court, Steve Lowden, Carl Watkins and James Franklin came into the starting line up to strengthen the pack, and 17 year old Ashton Pullin made his 1st team debut on the wing.
After several hours of work on the morning to bail the pitch out, and deposit 2 tonnes of sand to make the lake size puddles more beach like, both teams got on with the game, and tried to run the ball when possible.
A strong breeze was blowing up the slope, and behind the backs of Whitehall in the first half.
Whitehall soon took control of the scrum, with the powerful Carl Watkins a real handful. It wasn’t long before Furp’s opposite number left the pitch after early pressure from the scrum.
Whitehall scored first after a charge down by Furp, who gathered the ball made good yards before the ball was offloaded to Trent, he sprinted away to Leagues 22, and after some good inter passing Chris Channon received the ball to score.
Conversion Pearcey Whitehall 7-0 Gordon League.
League steadily got into the game, and were very aggressive at the breakdown. Whitehall looked strong when running straight and hard, with simple interpasses and off loads.
Whitehall scored the next points when a strong scrummage ended in a penalty being awarded, and Pearcey slotted the kick to increase the lead to 10-0
League did score 4 minutes into injury time with the last play of the half, crashing over near the posts to make the half time score
Whitehall 10-7 Gordon League
Whitehall now had the slope and should have dominated territory.
Whitehall made one change at half time with Simon Bishop giving Furp a much needed rest.
Both defences looked solid and opportunities were at a premium. Ryan Price came on 10 mins into the second half, and added a voice of control to the back line.
The 3rd Price in the squad, Damion replaced Dan O’Conner who put a good shift in and made his 1st team debut as a back row, after converting from the front row last season. He carried well and worked hard.
Whitehall were constantly penalised at the breakdown with some strange decisions, one of which could have costly when Trent was sin binned with 15 minutes to go, but the team played for each other and with Furp returning, the scrum again dominated. until the end of the game to finish WINNERS 10-7
Badger and Trent were the stand out players, but all 18 contributed to a dogged performance.
We desperately needed a game after 2 weeks off, and the boys created a massive BUZZ before the game, played for each other and the club during the game, and enjoyed a cracking atmosphere after.
With 3 more 1st team squad players back next week, the strength in depth is good, and a very positive attitude showed by all players.
Their were so many in the club after, the downstairs bar was in danger of opening for the second week on the trot, but with the new executive style seating now upstairs, there was room for all to enjoy a few beers whilst watching England stroll to victory, before Whitehall (more or less) on mass went to the Tunnels to celebrate the marriage of Dane and Kelly to end a cracking day.
Great attitude, Great performance, Great result, Great atmosphere in the club Long may it continue.
Well done Boys, and congratulations to Ashton at making his debut at 17 and 5 weeks old. A long 1st team career surly has just started.