Lest we Forget

Tries
Stringer 2
Walker
Ayo 2
Sagomba
Davidson
Morely
Conversions
Jessop
Stringer

The immortal words “lest we forget” commenced a two minute silence this weekend for all the boys and parents at Thurrock, a scene being replayed across the country.
Watching all the boys across the wide range of age groups gather quietly I was struck by something else we forget and take for granted. That is how much a good rugby club brings people together and promotes for all our boys the sense of belonging and respect. The respect for the referee, coaches, the rules and your team mates that you play with. I wanted to add respect for your parents but as we all have 14 – 15 year olds perhaps that is going to far!!

The weather was going to make the match challenging in fact at times I think both teams would have claimed the ball had beeen replaced with a bar of soap. OB’s had been tasked with putting into practice the work done in the training sessions. This started at the breakdown committing the right number of forwards and then allowing the scrum half the option of releasing the backs or passing to another pod of forwards to drive forward. Given the conditions the forwards were going to have a busy day. Following on from previous games the pack as a whole responded well with Griffin and Cottage in particular driving hard and captain Walker and Stringer having excellent games. Therefore it was no surprise the first 3 tries came from the forwards, Stringer first pouncing on a Thurrock clearing kick charged down on their try line. The second was also by Stringer who used his pace to run an excellent support line splitting the defence. Thurrock responded well and crossed the OB line only for the ball to be knocked free at the last moment. After some further good forward play recycling the ball through the phases Walker was able to burst through yet again and over for the try converted by Stringer.
The backs who had shown that some of the defensive lessons from training were starting to sink in had fallen foul of the greasy ball and great last gasps defence tackles from Thurrock to be denied two tries. They were not however to be denied on their third attempt with Ayo from left wing showing his pace to end a fine set of moves.
The second half started brightly with OB’s backs continuing to run and spread the ball well as the forwards continued to set strong platforms and recycle ball effectively. This resulted in several overlaps being created and great supporting runs led to holes appearing in the Thurrock defence. Sagomba, crossed on the right with the OB’s winger and full back offering support. Aylott ,who was having a great match marshalling the back line then placed a quick grubber kick through which Davidson ran onto for a score. Sagomba turned provider, this time on the left with the Thurrock defence stretched, this allowed Morley with a great inside step to cross and score. The final try of the half fell once again to Ayo whom received the ball deep in the OB half but with space to run, out-paced the Thurrock defence and the supporting Davidson. Jessop stepped up to secure the conversion.
Thurrock played with great heart throughout the match and were unlucky on several occasions not to score and certainly at times stretched the OB defence. The welcome as always at Thurrock was warm and friendly and we would like to thank the referee for ensuring the match was a great contest for both teams.