South take bonus point win in Sunny Scunny

South up their game and take 5 points at Heslam Park writes Mark Fletcher

Scunthorpe 23 South 28

After the disappointment of not getting a winning bonus point at home last week South needed a big performance today to keep our promotion ambitions on track. Hats off to Scunthorpe RFC for holding their nerve and deciding to stage the fixture despite sub zero temperatures over night. They got it right and a hard fought encounter went ahead on a firm but safe surface in the bright winter sunshine of North Lincolnshire.

Scunthorpe have a passionate following and their echoing grandstand was well populated with their partisan followers and the pitch was strategically surrounded by other very vocal and loyal followers, all geared up to give advice to the match official in the course of his duties. The crowd here have created a fortress like few others, well behaved but unerring in their support of their first team- a sixteenth man in every sense. No small challenge for June Bayley, whose dulcet tones worked hard in the Grandstand, and Bob Colyer who made up much of the visiting support.

South were without Connor Smith, Will Keeling, Jack Hague and Dan Robson. Mitch Culpin moved into the centre with Gaz Clarke with Nick Griffin switching to fullback and Matt Fisher playing on the wing with the returning Sam Greasley taking up the remaining back three berth.

In the pack the evergreen Andy Harris returned at prop with Stu Bale replacing Jack Hague, who has his head in exam papers, and Simon Johnson making a welcome return to the back row.

The bench was made up of Roddy McNaughton, newly signed utility forward Aaron Langan following his move from Paviors and the very welcome return of Kieron Collins following his spell at Nuneaton. Kieron can be easily spotted in his shiny orange boots as he aims to emulate his achievements of being the league’s top try scorer in our last promotion season.

From the outset the hosts looked fired up following a home thrashing the previous week at the hands of Longton and the sides looked fairly evenly matched for the first quarter. South were playing into the bright sun and were against the slope but looked unthreatened until the 19th minute when the Scunthorpe’s talisman winger outsmarted Greasley and Griffin to open the scoring. The conversion was missed.

On 28 minutes Chris Bale was driven over the line to score the first of South’s four tries and Mark Lord converted to steady the ship. Despite dominating up front and getting the Scunthorpe scrum under a lot of pressure South could not trouble the scoreboard and fell behind to a penalty on 35 minutes. Significantly this was the only successful kick for the home side on the day and it was really Mark Lord’s 100% return which secured the result.

On 39 minutes and following some great scrummaging, Luke Coltman emerged with the ball having scored the first of his brace for the day. At half time South were ahead 14 8 and in the ascendency.

South hit the ground running at the start of the second half with the pack being dominant to a man and Chris Bale’s determined run was rewarded when Simon Johnson’s text book support play enabled him to cross from 5 metres out and the lead extended to 21 8.

Scunthorpe bounced back though and the siege of “Mitch Read corner” started. How many times over the years have Scunthorpe taken the game into the corner in front of the grandstand and forced the visitors to err? This was the corner where Mitch the fridge nearly had a cardiac arrest some years ago as he screamed at the South pack to clear their lines. We won by one point that day and those who had been there had a feeling of déjà vu! Sam Badham got a yellow card on 50 minutes and it only took the Scunthorpe number 8 two minutes to pounce and reduce the arrears to 8 points. Eight minutes later the talisman winger crossed again and the 18 21 score line looked threatening to South.

The South forwards found new heart though and raised the tempo with strong carries from the Bales, Luke Coltman and Sam Badham who capitalised on the tenacity of Johnson at every breakdown. With the Scunthorpe line under pressure Coltman crossed from another strong forwards drive and a 10 point lead looked good with ten minutes to play and the bonus point in the bag.

Scunthorpe though would not to lie down and their superior fitness gave them new life, kicking for the corners and giving their runners time and space to challenge a weakening South defence. Last ditch tackles from McFedries, Fisher, Greasley, Orange boots Collins and Gaz Clarke were all that stood between South and disaster. On 75 minutes a howling mix up behind the South line allowed the home centre to drop on a loose ball and put the result in doubt.

South held on, Mitch Read’s heart would have given out had he been watching but despite several missed tackles, individual effort and brave hearts kept the Scunthorpe onslaught at bay.

Had the Scunthorpe kicker not had an off day and Mark Lord not have slotted a full house, things might have been different but this was a great response after last week. Great individual efforts all round, great scrummaging, strong lineout and great preparation for the visit of Hinckley next week.

Thank you Scunthorpe for a great encounter; well done to the referee who must have felt like he was in a cauldron for 80 minutes, well done Orange Boots Collins on a promising return to the green and white and well done Aaron Langan on stepping into a tense fray for your debut.

Man of the match: Simon Johnson, text book back row play worthy of any stage.

Thank you Mick Holford and Harry Ellis for your continued support and guidance.

Hinckley next week; lets hear it for Andy Harris who in his fifth decade showed today he can still hold his own.

South: Griffin, Fisher, Clarke, Culpin (Collins), Greasley, Lord, McFedries, Harris, Coltman, Bayley (McNaughton), Bale S, Badham, March (Langan), Johnson, Bale C.