South Woodham Ferrers 34 – Old Priorians 27

The game could not have started any worse for the home team as poor defending and a failure to clear their lines saw them down 12 nil within the first ten minutes. It seemed that no-one could put in a decent tackle as the curse of the “slow start” continues. Only against high-flying Brentwood have the lads put in a decent opening 15.

It took a scrum to wake the team from their malaise and they finally showed their true colours with a dominant shove that put the away side on the back foot. This was a pattern that would be repeated throughout with the Woodham eight on top in every scrum until the game went to uncontested scrums late in the second half.

A period of dominance from the home side forwards was rewarded with a converted try from Adam Brown. It looked like the confidence was beginning to return when a sucker chip over the defensive line saw the visitors move to seventeen points with an unconverted try.
Big hits from Sammy Sharp, Tani Loka and Neil Gittos keptthe visitors at bay as the home team upped their intensity in the later stages of the second half. This was converted into points as Jake Rawlinsky scoured the first of his brace.

Half time came with the score tight at 17 to 12 in the visitors favour and it was again down to the strong words from the coaching team and captain to lift the home side to greater effort.

The second half was a reverse of the first with the home side scoring first with a pair of fine individual tries. The first a trade mark barrelling run from Liam Searles and the second a superb break away try from Jake Rawlinsky.

Old Priorians hit back when a speculative chip from fly half Adam Brown was picked up by their winger who had a clear run in to score.
At scrum time the Woodham forwards continued to dominate and were rewarded with a penalty that Jamie Cox slotted over to make the score 27 to 22 with the last quarter left to play.

Probably the best move of the day resulted in a try for Jack Reeve on his return to his home club. The score looked healthier to the home supporters at 34 points to 22.

Injuries to Old Priorians forwards forced the referee to go to uncontested scrums thus blunting Woodhams undoubted cutting edge. This was to prove decisive in the dying stages of the game as the visitors pressed for a bonus point. When Woodham failed to clear the ball from their own dead ball area, after the ball hit the post from a poor pass, Old Priorianswere awarded a five metre scrum which they worked into a try and the final score of the day.

The home side will be relieved to have won this game but have much to work on in the week, particularly at the breakdown where Old Priorians frustrated a dominant display from the Woodham pack.