Saturday 16 September 2006

 

Greetland All Rounders 10   Crigglestone All Blacks 36

 

Crigg won a scrappy affair between these two unbeaten sides to take an early lead at the top of Division 1.  Three early mistakes put the visitors under pressure, but Crigg held out and a relieving penalty for a head high tackle, gave good field position from where Mick Wood got Crigg's first try.  Hard work by the Crigg pack shortly after saw them with an opening again but Tom Malyan was unable to ground the ball properly.  Back-chatting to the referee by Greetland at the re-start, conceded a needless penalty.  A quick tap saw powerhouse prop Tim Owens scatter the defence to score Crigg's second and Malyan's goal made it 10-0 on 15 minutes.

Further ill-discipline from Greetland saw a man go in the sin-bin, and acted to galvanise the home side who then had their best spell of the game.  A static Crigg defence failed to react as Greetland dived over from dummy-half, and then two lost balls and a penalty for retaliation put Crigg under constant pressure for ten minutes.  When Wood failed to make touch from a penalty, Greetland raced fully 90 yards only to drop the ball to groans from the home crowd.

Crigg started the second half in determined mood and on the sixth tackle Malyan dummied the fullback and went over for a try, that he converted himself.  The try come at the end of the first set of six Crigg had completed for 25 minutes.  A brief fracas soon after, saw Luke Johnson given 10 minutes, and Greetland made the man advantage tell.  A good Crigg move was spoiled by a speculative pass on the third tackle and Greetland capitalised with the loose ball to score and bring the scores back to 10-16 with a converted try.

That was as good as it got for the the home side, as Crigg finally started to respect possession.  An attempted Greetland interception resulted in a knock-on, and from the scrum, fullback Kev Marson burst through the defence to score.  Malyan converted.

Greetland kicked straight out from the restart to earn Crigg a penalty.  Wood found touch himself from the kick and then broke the defence from the tap, supported by captain Ryan Horsley, who fed Will Field for Crigg's fifth try.  The conversion and a penalty goal for persistent infringements moved Crigg four scores clear, as Greetland were again reduced to 12 men.

The final score came, with just minutes to go, as Sam Ellam stepped his way through the defensive line, and passed to Andrew Webber who crossed for the final try.  Malyan's goal made it 10-36.