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Oldfield III (13) Versus Chew Valley II (14) |
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Written by Lloyd Madden
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Monday, 05 November 2007 |
Chew Valley will have travelled home with a sense of relief after their one point victory yesterday at Shaft Road.
In an evenly contested match, Oldfield failed to convert late pressure to take all the points with indiscipline allowing Chew to clear their lines on several occasions late in the second half.
Oldfield welcomed back some youth to their front row with Chalky White and Mark McCrae both returning to face a Chew Valley side currently second in the league. A much-changed Oldfield saw some of our fitter forwards taking up positions in the back line. A notable absentee being captain Andy Murphy, unavailable due to shopping commitments!!!!!!!
Some early breaks by the Chew back line enabled them take the lead midway through the second half from two converted tries. However, Oldfield eventually settled and returned with a penalty (Ericson) and well worked try by winger James March. Chew always looked dangerous with their dynamic centres gaining many valuable yards from open play.
A dispute between the referee and Oldfield 8, Rich Gobby (on use of the vernacular) saw Oldfield down to 14 men each side of the break. However, Chew failed to covert the extra man into points due to determined Oldfield defence. Chew led 10 – 14 at the half time whistle.
Irish/Kiwi Joe O’ Sullivan was drafted into the back line at the start of the second half after eventually finding his boots!!! The second half saw the Oldfield pack take more control of proceedings in both line out and scrum. This coupled with direct driving from base of ruck forced Chew back deep into their 22. Some determined mauling from the forwards set up a drop goal for the ever-improving half back pairing of Lane & Ericson. The young halfbacks duly delivered to leave Oldfield one point behind with 10 minutes remaining on the clock.
Again the Oldfield pack forced the pace culminating in a series of five yard attacking scrums. The Chew scrum continually strained until an illegal Oldfield boot (from the second row!!) gifted a penalty to allow Chew restore composure and vital field position. Oldfield continued to press the Chew line until the final whistle but determined Chew defence saw them take the victory by the smallest of margins.
Oldfield III:
White, Stoner, McCrae, Madden, Chapman, Simon, Gobby, JR, Frankie, Laner, Ericson, Kojack, Leggett, Murphy, Goodman, March, Wynes, O’ Sullivan.
Ericson Pen (1) Con (1) Drop Goal (1)
March Try (1) |
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