Back
Whittington v Stone..First Season Game!!
Scott Leitch25 Sep 2017 - 20:16
Share via
After a good start in pre-season friendlies, the serious game is afoot!
The long wait for the new season of league rugby was finally over as Whittington who have shown great promise in all three preseason games faced a Stone side that arrived a little under strength up front expressing their tight head prop had limited experience and 'would have to see how it went'.
It became quite evident early on that uncontested scrums were the way forward as Stones scrum crumbled at the first sign of contact allowing clean ball for both sides.
The first 25 minutes were nothing more than a state of stalemate as both packs battled for supremacy in the close quarters.
The deadlock was finally broken as Whittington's lineout sent the backs heading into Stones red zone opening the way for Pat Hobson to dot down to the right of the posts.
A crack in Stones armoury was starting to appear as Whits dominance started to show around the loose fringes with several players going close first Pete Hughes then Ben Hemmings held up over the line, before another venture with ball up the jumper saw Tighthead prop Dave Hancock smash over from a couple of yards out in full view of the ref, no question of this one being grounded.
Missed kicks from Mike Marshall meant Whit couldn't trouble the scoreboard further before half time.
Whit rang the changes as the extensive bench was fully exploited by Rose but never a team to lay down Stone came out the blocks the quicker in the second half and took full advantage of some sloppy defence out wide with a try of their own.
As the substitutes in blue and white
found their feet some neat play out on the left wing by Moss opened the door for Hobson to canter to the line.
A quick tap penalty awarded after a ruck infringement from the now tiring Stone pack gifted Ben Bayliss a try from Marshall's speedy reactions.
Credit to Stone for battling back into the game and gaining a scrum deep in the home sides 22, some clever thinking saw the big ball carrying number 8 play scrum half and head to the line unchallenged as flailing tackles missed.
Time now running out for the travelling side frustration started to come through as several cheap shots after the ball had gone meant whilst Hobson was tidying up his hat trick a minor skirmish down field saw a Stone player sent from the field for decent towards the official.
Marshall had sorted out his kicking boots too. So the final score was Whittington 31 Stone 10
Next weekends league action is away at Rugeley 2nds.
Anyone looking to join the club should get in touch as we plan to have a push at fielding two sides in the near future.
It became quite evident early on that uncontested scrums were the way forward as Stones scrum crumbled at the first sign of contact allowing clean ball for both sides.
The first 25 minutes were nothing more than a state of stalemate as both packs battled for supremacy in the close quarters.
The deadlock was finally broken as Whittington's lineout sent the backs heading into Stones red zone opening the way for Pat Hobson to dot down to the right of the posts.
A crack in Stones armoury was starting to appear as Whits dominance started to show around the loose fringes with several players going close first Pete Hughes then Ben Hemmings held up over the line, before another venture with ball up the jumper saw Tighthead prop Dave Hancock smash over from a couple of yards out in full view of the ref, no question of this one being grounded.
Missed kicks from Mike Marshall meant Whit couldn't trouble the scoreboard further before half time.
Whit rang the changes as the extensive bench was fully exploited by Rose but never a team to lay down Stone came out the blocks the quicker in the second half and took full advantage of some sloppy defence out wide with a try of their own.
As the substitutes in blue and white
found their feet some neat play out on the left wing by Moss opened the door for Hobson to canter to the line.
A quick tap penalty awarded after a ruck infringement from the now tiring Stone pack gifted Ben Bayliss a try from Marshall's speedy reactions.
Credit to Stone for battling back into the game and gaining a scrum deep in the home sides 22, some clever thinking saw the big ball carrying number 8 play scrum half and head to the line unchallenged as flailing tackles missed.
Time now running out for the travelling side frustration started to come through as several cheap shots after the ball had gone meant whilst Hobson was tidying up his hat trick a minor skirmish down field saw a Stone player sent from the field for decent towards the official.
Marshall had sorted out his kicking boots too. So the final score was Whittington 31 Stone 10
Next weekends league action is away at Rugeley 2nds.
Anyone looking to join the club should get in touch as we plan to have a push at fielding two sides in the near future.
Further reading