Saturday 30 September 2006

 

Pennine League 1

Thornhill Trojans 4 Crigglestone All Blacks 28

A much improved Crigg recorded their fifth straight win to cement their place at the top of Division 1.  The outstanding Kev Marson once again shone at fullback, fielding tricky kicks twice in the first five minutes.  Crigg's defence was resolute and when Danny Lockwood forced the error on nine minutes, the relieving scrum and feed set the visitors on their way.  Ryan Horsley showed his class by timing a perfect pass to the receiving Mick Wood who hit the ball at pace to score.  Tom Malyan was unable to convert, but Crigg had scored on their first attack.

Knock-ons by Lockwood and Andy Hall put the pressure back on Crigg, who had to defend repeat sets of six.  Eventually Wood put up a bomb that the Trojans failed to deal with.  Marson raced in from the scrum, only for the ball to be knocked-on at the next tackle.

Relief came shortly after as Malyan broke the defensive line and went to pass to Horsley who was then taken out without the ball.  Wood got plenty of yards from the kick to touch and Crigg mounted pressure as Hall, Haydn Luke and Adam Hyman inter-passed and forced another set of six.  From the drop out, Wood dummied his way 20 yards before being tackled.  A quick play the ball saw the ever inventive Horsley put Andrew Webber through on the inside.  Malyan's conversion made it 10-0.

Marson was tested with the high ball and came up trumps and then stood his ground to perform a try saving tackle.  With Crigg under pressure, Horsley put in a monster tackle to force the ball loose on the line.  Thornhill indiscipline helped Crigg up field, but a Horsley knock-on undid all the good work.  Joe Meacham, Luke Johnson and Martyn Tilford all worked overtime in defence to ensure Crigg kept a clean sheet until the break.

With confidence high, Wood tried a cheeky chip at the start of the second half that went all wrong.  Thornhill intercepted, moved the ball wide and ran in a try in the corner.  The conversion attempt was unsuccessful, but Crigg had had the warning shot fired across their bow.  A minute later Wood made up for his error, by stepping inside and feeding Horsley for a try, that Malyan converted.  He added a penalty shortly after, when Andrew Webber was taken out in backplay.  18-4 ahead, Crigg never looked back.

Joe Meacham chased a long Wood kick soon after, with Hall in support, they forced the ball free.  Hall fed Horsley who went over for his second.  Malyan again kicked the goal.  Now on top and playing their best rugby of the season, Crigg cut open the Thornhill defence time and again.  Having worked the overlap three times, Webber finally passed to his winger Meacham on 74 minutes to send the flyer in at the corner.  Malyan could not convert, but Crigg were home 28-4.

Man of the match:  1 Kev Marson, 2 Ryan Horsley, 3 Andrew Webber