17th October 2009: Wetherby 29 – 18 Sheffield Oaks (Aaron 2P, 1C; Geoff 1T; Chris 1T)
Amidst the warmest sunshine that North Yorkshire could offer, Sheffield Oaks walked out confidently out onto the pitch. Giving a front-row debut to Simon, who impressed in the scrum, and full debut to Scott on the wing the Oaks went in search on their first win of the season.
Unfortunately a slow start for the Oaks allowed Wetherby’s No.11 to drift though the eye of a needle and avoid three tacklers to open the scoring. Following the missed conversions the Oaks proceeded to allow a full 10 minutes of uncohesive rugby, allowing the home team’s Man of the Match, to burst through more tackles before offloading for Wetherby’s second score of the afternoon.
The Oaks finally turned up and made dents in the Teflon defence, with both forwards and backs picking holes at ease. Unfortunately, each time they ventured into the opponents 22, simple errors from the Oaks caused a breakdown in play. 25 scrappy minutes passed by with the only highlights being Tom “Usain” Ward’s sniping from scrum half and Geoff Crossland’s subtle justice enforcement. Finally Wetherby’s ill-discipline was punished by the Oaks as Aaron Brown slotted over a penalty from in front of the sticks to make the score 10 - 3.
Soon after, as fans were looking for their half time flasks of tea, the Oaks’ first try of the game was scored. The mercurial Aaron Brown ghosted through a hole that you could park a bus in, before passing to “Iron Mike” Crossland for his first try of the season with the final play of the first half.
Trailing 10 – 8 at half time Oaks made changes to the backline with Crossland taking an injury enforced rest. The opening exchanges of the second half suggested that little would change from the first half. Light was seen at the end of the tunnel with centre Chris Chapman finding large gaps in the Wetherby defence on numerous occasions. However, little reward came his way as offloads went astray or the ball was killed in the ruck soon after.
Two tries in quick succession for Wetherby threatened to derail the Oaks’s bid for victory, the first capitalising on sloppy defence and the second after a dubious “play-on” call from the ref as the Oaks winger was clearly pushed over in his attempt to defend a box kick. Trailing 22 – 8, the Oaks determination to succeed was clear to see as the continued to rumble up the middle of the pitch.
Quick footwork and good handling from the backs put the Oaks in another good position, leading yet again to another infringement from the Wetherby pack. This allowed Brown to slot over a second penalty of the day to reduce the deficit to 11 points.
At this point it was all Oaks. Even the loss of second rower Paul and hooker Joe Pogson to injury could not unhinge the efforts of the Oaks. Debutant Tim Mullinar almost drove over in the corner but a scrambled defence ensured his efforts went unrewarded. However quick ball from the lively Ward enabled Anael Brunet to put the deserving Chapman in under the posts to allow the Frenchman to claim his first assist of the season, possibly of his career.
However, it was the Wetherby No.11 who had the last laugh after poor discipline from the Oaks gave Wetherby a pressure-relieving penalty at 18 – 22. Following a lengthy kick into the away teams 22, good hands from the Wetherby backs created an overlap for No11 who crossed the line for his second try with only minutes remaining. Yet another feeling of disappointment for the pointless Oaks who feel they could have got something from all league games this season.
Oaks: Matt G, Joe, Simon, George, Paul, Bob, Bully, Luke, Wardy, Aaron, Jonny, Chris, Anael, Scott, Geoff. Subs: Tim, Grady, Alastair.
MoM – Chris Chapman. Special mention for Simon who conned the home fans in to thinking he was a seasoned prop.
DoD – Damo. No valid explanations were given but well done nonetheless.
Golden Moment: None. Despite the glorified account above, it was all average.
New ELV of the Week: Dangerous tackles are allowed as long as the tackler remembers to put him down “nicely”. How did we all forget that one?
