Match Report
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| Date - 24th September 2005 |
Old Brentwoods 2nd XV -v- May & Baker 2nd XV |
| Merit Table |
| Old Brentwoods 31 May & Baker 7 |
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| The Old Boys got their BL Merit Table aspirations back on track on a beautiful day at Ashwells Road on Saturday, against their old rivals May & Baker.
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| This was due in no small part to the return of some of the more senior players, Paddy Bache, Pat Stroud and Dave Cavanagh. Alongside them in the Old Boys pack were Ed Tomlinson, Gary Murphy, Tim Cuthbert, Rory Harnett and Danny Bryant.
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| Some good pre-match preparation was rewarded with the Old Boys forcing the May & Baker pack onto the back foot at the set piece. Initially, lineouts and scrums were decisively won by the home side, with May & Baker raising their game for the loose-play. May & Baker then started getting more reward from the set-piece as well by playing their spoiling game well. This disruption led to the home team conceding a flurry of penalties.
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| One could sense that if the Old Brentwoods could get through the phases, and retain some of the ball in the contact then the advantage would swing in their favour. It took nearly most of the first half to come, but it was well worth waiting for.
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| From a scrum on half way, number 9 Alex Hughes was able to release the three-quarters properly for the first time. Fly-half Perry Reeves was able to use the move he had been calling for the previous 15 minutes!
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| A double dummy switch in the centres by Ian Hannaway and Daragh Harnett enabled Reeves to find full back Jaques Pretorius in space. With a turn of pace that surprised everyone, not least his team mates, Pretorius cut a fine line outside the May & Baker defence and was able to switch back to Richard Austin who strolled over untouched, for the home side’s first score.
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| This score reflected much of the game. May & Baker’s superb work at the break down and resolute defence thwarted much of the home side’s attacking play for the first three quarters of the game.
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| Once the Old Boys started to retain the ball in contact and were able to put some phases in, their three-quarters were able to make good ground up the park. With May & Baker constantly on the back foot it was only a matter of time before their defence was breached.
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| A brace of tries from blind side flanker Rory Harnett, excellent work from full back Jaques Pretorious and some superb tackling from substitute open side Fraser Blackburn, put the game beyond reach for the visitors.
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| The Old Brentwoods 2nd XV can take much from this game, but there is still a lot of work to be done. They will need better ball retention and more aggressive rucking if they are to play the fluid game that suits them.
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