Sussex "Canterbury Jack" Intermediate League
St Francis 13 Newick 0
The early kick off of this match caught some spectators, including this reporter, unawares, so my comments on the action in the first twenty minutes rely on hearsay. Reliable sources on the touchline inform me that a stray elephant wandered on to the pitch and there was a mass brawl involving all thirty players ! A much respected committee man (Lee Puddephat) also told me an unsubstantiated rumour about the private life of one of the St Francis star players. Max Clifford may be interested in the tale now that Vanessa Perroncell has decided not to sell the story of her alleged relationship with England's football captain, although, truth be told, this story had more in common with the one which appeared in the "Daily Mail" a few weeks ago about a former Welsh rugby captain....................
In reality, both teams sounded each other out during the first twenty minutes on a pitch which was boggy in all the usual places and St Francis had secured a 3-0 lead courtesy of a penalty from twenty-two metres by fly-half Shane Kenny. Shortly afterwards Imi Singh had to retire from the game with a knee injury and was replaced by Maurice Fitzgerald. Some solid tackling from centre, Murray Stephenson, was complimented by a tub-thumping tackle on his opposite number by flanker Shannon Millard. His opponent got knocked down but fortunately got back up again. These heavy tackles from the home team got the crowd roaring their approval, their numbers boosted by the prospect of seeing England v Wales afterwards in the Emerald Club. To be honest, though, there was not much else for the home crowd to cheer as Newick gained the upperhand in the latter stages of the first half through the measured kicking game of their fly-half and the dogged persistance of their forwards. Their dominance created two opportunities to level the score, the first a missed penalty kick at goal from twenty-five metres and the second an attempt at a drop-goal, which fell away to the right of the uprights on the stroke of half-time. The Saints captain, Adie Perry, was clearly unhappy with his side's first half display and spared no one as he admonished his team for their laziness, sloth being the deadly sin he finds most deplorable.
As if keen to stir his troops into action, Perry led the way when the whistle sounded for the second half, quickly catching a chip kick ahead and charging into the opposition with great vigour. Saints were now in the ascendancy and forced a couple of scrums close to the Newick line. Unfortunately they either lacked the killer instinct required to force the ball over the line or were penalised for minor infringements by a no nonsense referee, who was more than happy to move the penalties a further ten metres down the pitch as the need arose. Although Saints established some dominance up front, both back lines put themselves under pressure by trying to float out long passes. Handling errors were frequent and, as a result, play became rather disjointed. Dan Williams was introduced on the St Francis wing in place of Vince McGahan with Adie Perry moving into the front row. Saints then had their best spell of the match. The line-outs, often a Saints weakness this season, provided the base for some of their best attacks on this occasion with Dave Miles throwing to Shannon Millard and peeling around to collect the ball before feeding a supporting team-mate.
St Francis continued to dominate territorily with evergreen scrum-half Alan McArdle always looking to take a quick tap penalty to keep his side on the front foot. From one such penalty McArdle passed to Gavin Porter who drove the ball forward but once again Saints were unable to cross their opponents line. Saints then gained a five metre scrum but just as they appeared to be putting on a drive their efforts were thwarted by the Newick pack who wheeled the scrum successfully. Newick now had the advantage of the put-in but if they thought they were out of danger they were very much mistaken. The Saints pack put on a drive and Shannon Millard stole the loose ball and dived over the line to score the first try of the afternoon with ten minutes of the match remaining.
As the sun came out Saints kept on the pressure. A kick ahead by Kenny was carried over their line by Newick. From a five metre scrum McArdle fed Miles and from the resulting ruck the ball came to Paul Smith who majestically dummied both ways before strolling over the line unopposed for Saints' second try of the afternoon. It would have been nice if Kenny had been able to add the conversion as this would have neatly reversed the result at Newick earlier in the season, but to the statistician's dismay the kick was unsuccessful. Newick finished the match in Saints' half but were unable to gain the score that their honest endeavours deserved and as the referee blew the final whistle Saints were the victors by 13-0.
While coach Dave Miles was happy with the win, he was not so pleased with the disjointed performance and emphasised the need to attend training in the forthcoming week.
Team - McGahan, Singh, Arney, Trevaskis, Mallet, Porter, Millard, Miles, McArdle, Kenny, Perry (captain), Smith, Stephenson, Aydin, McShane, Fitzgerald, Williams.
This Saturday (13th Feb) St Francis 1st XV are at home to Hove Volunteers while the 2nd XV visit Sussex Police. In the evening there is a Charity Concert by The Midnight Howlers. Please come along and support your club.