South v Coalville

Sorry for the delay here's the match report for Sunday's match against Coalville.

After the uncertain start to the morning as to whether we were actually going to play we eventually kicked off 30 minutes late after Coalville made a mad dash down the M1 to get to us.

Coalville kicked off and straight away Mitch seized the ball and made a strong drive into their defence. From the ensuing maul South were awarded the first scrum and from this George made a fabulous pick and drive, drew the defence and off loaded to Reece who sprinted in for a beautifully worked try !

5-0 to South. Alex was just short with the conversion.

From the re-start South again took ball straight at Coalville, moving play across to the left wing and making good ground before being penalised. Coalville took the tap and attacked forcing a strong tackle from Joe to halt their advance. The ball came back to South and a scrambled clearance led to Coalville winning possession and darting over for the equalising score. They scored the kick making it -

5-7 to Coalville

Play continued with South being awarded a penalty after a stirring attack forward from Luke. This was reversed a few phases of play later and Coalville were awarded a penalty on the half way line. The first lineout followed and some messy ball was stolen and fed to Alex who jinxed past several players on the right wing only to be stopped. Another Coalville lineout followed and Charlie went powering through to make a crunching tackle on their half back.

Coalville rallied though and forcing Max and Luke to make some excellent tackles to stem the tide. Coalville continued with the through and some slick passing eventually overcame our defence and they scored another try. They missed the kick making it -

5-12 to Coalville

From the restart the ball was fed through the South backs to Josh, who made a lovely little dart at the Coalville backs but took a heavy knock forcing him off for a head injury assessment.

The ball was passed out to Sam, whose blistering pace was causing havoc for the Coalville tacklers. Only an excellent tackle from their centre forced him out into touch.

From ensuing play some scrappy play from Coalville led to a loose ball and in true Richie McCaw style, Charlie pounced and scored a lovely try. We missed the kick but bought the score back to -

10-12 to Coalville

Coalville restarted and the ball was lost into touch by South. The lineout was won by South and the ball went out wide where Ronnie took a lovely pass made good ground and set the ball beautifully for the forwards to to drive over. The ball went wide to Will who showed some great pace to attack down the wing only to just put a foot in touch to be denied a great try.

The south forward were working hard though and from the lineout Joe scored a blinding try from the throw in making the score -

15-12 to South.

Coalville though we're still piling on the pressure and forced a penalty near our try line and made it count by crashing over for a try under the posts. Surprisingly they missed the kick making the score -

15-17 to Coalville.

HALF TIME -

Coalville had the stronger start and from a missed touch kick Coalville attacked furiously and some poor tackling allowed them to cross for another try making the score -

15-22 to Coalville.

South were not giving in though and from the kick off Alex linked in with Jono for some lovely play and the forwards not giving up, with James working tirelessly in the rucks and mauls to provided ball for Reece to deliver.

The ball went out to Callum, who made an awesome run down the left wing to put pace the defence and score a lovely try near the posts. Alex was just shy with the kick making the score -

20-22 to Coalville.

Some messy play followed by both teams but Coalville still managed to snatch a try back - they were successful with the kick

20-29 to Coalville.

South weren't done though and Ben scored a try in response making the score 25-29 to Coalville.

Coalville kicked off and Jono and Sam took the play to the Coalville tacklers off loading to Reece who scored a fantastic try in the right hand corner ! Callum scored the conversion, making the score -

32- 29 to South

Coalville weren't done though and went all out for the win, despite some admirably defence by South Coalville put just too much pressure on us and forced a series of penalties and managed to steal a good try back, nicking the game with a final score of -

32-34 to Coalville.

It was a very entertaining game and had everything. Drama and indiscipline from both sides, ferocious tackles and fantastic tries. It was game that clearly Coalville were delighted to win. We were always in it and nearly snatched it from the claws of Coalville. We have a lot to be pleased with but must work on our game sense and tactics on the pitch.

There was some great individual performances, Ronnie and Joshua showing how much progress they have made this season and James at hooker an unsung hero week in week out, showing some real grit and huge effort all round the park to win this weeks well deserved man of the match !! Well done James.

Many thanks to Ron Hunt for sponsoring the match. Parents and grandparents support, in this case, is very much appreciated and really helps the lads every week. Thank you !!

Also thank you to Dave Bullivant for stepping in to ref the match, which is a daunting prospect, but without your help their would be no match.