Sandbach hold on to take the spoils

South caught cold by Sandbach.

Welford Road was a cold and bleak place to be on Saturday afternoon as the South faithful faced snow flurries and a brisk breeze all the way from the Urals.
Sandbach had travelled not quite so far to take on South in this latest N3M league match.
Lee Miller returned for the injured Chris Bale at No8, Andy Gates also returned at 12 with Will Keeling moving out one place with Dave Weston at full back. Danny Graney, Rhod McNaughton and Mark Bayley made up the bench.
South started brightly and should again have converted a kickable penalty, but again went for the corner for a catch and drive and again it came to nothing.
The visitors then took control scoring two penalties from Ben Elliott, two tries from Josh Longsen and Richard Murray with the latter try converted by Elliott to establish an 18-0 lead. South were guilty of getting on the wrong side of the referee, having Lee Miller sin binned, taking an outrageous dummy for the visitors first try and gifting the second from a poor chip kick in attack quickly snapped up by their speedy back division.
It was obvious which side wanted the ball more at this stage and it wasn’t South.
Set with a mountain to climb for the third successive game South had to put together some cohesive play and although they made headway in the approach work the combination of Sandbach’s scramble defence and South’s poor decision making kept the visitors line intact. Connor Smith went close after a subtle grubber behind the visitors defence, Andy Gates chose a penetrative line to go through the Sandbach defence - a move which petered out through lack of close support. Eventually Joe Glover stroked over a straightforward penalty to open South’s account just before the interval.

Half time: South 3pts Sandbach 18pts.

Danny Graney replaced Smith at half time who retired due to a shoulder injury.
South were still earning the displeasure of the referee and Elliott had the chance to further Sandbach’s advantage, but his attempt fell well short. Dave Weston initiated a deep attack from the kick, but ran out of support in the visitors 22 and the danger was cleared. South were at last getting into the game and spending time in the Sandbach half. Good carries by Stu Bale, Josh McLaurin and Luke Coltman established some momentum. They were, however, finding it difficult in the line out where Will Ward couldn’t dominate as he has done for most of the season.
The one area South were dominating was the scrummage as the visitors were beginning to be penalised regularly. Keiran Stone was replaced by Mark Bayley on the hour and Glover added his second penalty to reduce the deficit.
From a heel against the head South demolished the Sandbach scrum and No8 McLaurin picked up to go over for a try, which Glover converted to take South within five points of the visitors.
Gareth Kerr twice made inroads into the Sandbach defence after good approach work by Mark Lord and Will Keeling. The latter thrust might have brought dividends had the ball bounced more kindly.
South now felt confident to move the ball wide and continuously threatened. They were brought down to earth as Sandbach’s Elliott had two more kickable penalties, one of which he converted to move the score onto 13-21 with ten minutes to play. South were now continually pressing and from another Sandbach scrum indiscretion Glover converted his third penalty to cut the visitors lead. South had one last chance to score with a scrummage close to the visitor’s line, but they messed it up and Sandbach charged down into the South half hanging on for victory.
A disappointing result from South although Sandbach are a decent side and their performance didn’t reflect their position in the lower echelons of the league.
After giving Bournville a 17 point early lead and Newport a 15 point lead and then coming back to win this was a game too far for South as an 18 point start was just too much to overcome. A losing bonus point being no consolation for an undercooked South performance.

Squad: Weston, Smith (Graney), Keeling, Gates, Kerr, Lord, Glover, McLaurin, Johnson, Miller, Bale S, Ward, Stone (Bayley), Coltman ©, Harris, McNaughton.

Man of the Match: Stu Bale for some devastating carries.