MARLOW 10 READING 13 S COUNTIES NORTH 13 04 19

MARLOW 10 READING 13 S COUNTIES NORTH 13 04 19

Reading’s season finished with a great win away against a good Marlow side which had given Reading a thrashing, 41-10, in the first game of the season. For the eight members of the Reading side who played that day this was a great way of returning the compliment. Unfortunately for Marlow it ended their hopes of a potential play off for promotion.

Three survivors from the first fixture were the front row, Josh Pallett, Alex Watson and Josh Nicol and they made their presence felt at the very first scrum when Marlow had to rescue ball going backwards. Charlie Davies and Fraser Keofman made sure of Reading line-out ball and, along with fellow forwards Andy Parr, Ed Dixon and Gavin Egan showed great commitment in defending Marlow’s attempts to use their big forwards to drive through. Outside them Lewis Bowers gave out a great service from scrum half and at fly half man of the match Alex Dorliac proved a real thorn in the flesh for Marlow with his tactical kicking.
Centres Grant Spears and Dan Witko provided a powerful defensive base as well as putting in some strong runs and they were well backed up by wingers George Dear and Stuart Borthwick. With Luke Burns also shining on his return at full back Reading managed to defend with gusto and score two tries to the home side’s one.

It was a measure of both teams’ commitment in defence that there was only one score in the first half as Marlow fly half Freddie Lewis, making his first team debut, kicked a penalty. A hard-fought and entertaining first half thus ended at 3-0 to the home side.
The second half began with Marlow on the attack but Reading managed to hack a dropped ball out of defence for a move with ended with Marlow being penalised. Alex Dorliac slotted the penalty and the scores were level. More good play followed as a long kick from Burns and another by Dorliac resulted in a Reading five metre scrum. Marlow held out the attempted five metre drive but Reading opened the ball out and a chip left saw winger George Dear crash over for a try wide out. Dorliac’s conversion attempt was short but Reading now led 8-3.
Marlow were by no means beaten yet and came back strongly as a great break by centre Charlie Cotton set up a try which Lewis converted, putting his side 10-8 in the lead with 25 minutes still to go.

Marlow now concentrated on using their big forwards to drive close to the scrum while occasionally bringing their powerful back line into play. And they certainly had their opportunities but made mistakes under pressure and Reading’s line remained intact. Then, with fifteen minutes still to go, Reading scored what was to prove the decisive try. Dorliac’s penalty kick from deep in his own half gave Reading a good attacking platform. From the lineout Reading moved the ball swiftly down the line and Luke Burns drove through an attempted tackle to touch down what proved to be the winning try.

Head Coach Ben Wills was naturally delighted after the game, praising his side for sticking to the game plan and singling out fly half Alex Dorliac for his leading role in this. “Roll on next season!”, he said. He will certainly be expecting a better start to next season that has happened over the past two seasons. For the moment, however, he can be satisfied with what was a great performance which proved that his side can mix it with the top teams in this league.
Tries: George Dear, Luke Burns Penalty: Alex Dorliac

TEAM: Luke Burns; George Dear, Dan Witko, Grant Spears, Stuart Borthwick; Alex Dorliac, Lewis Bowers; Josh Pallett, Alex Watson, Josh Nicol, Andy Parr, Ed Dixon, Fraser Koefman, Charlie Davies, Gavin Egan. Replacements: Ashley Chapman, Guillaume Janin, Adam Veale
Ted Goodhew