Victorious Start to 2015

South Woodham Ferrers RFC v Basildon RFC

Their first game of 2015 saw the South Woodham Ferrers RFC 1st XV travelling the short distance to Basildon to play yet another local rival. With the two teams, going into the Christmas break, occupying 9th and 10th positions (and only one point between them) in the London 2 North East League both sets of supporters were anticipating a close, hard fought encounter.
Although it was a dry day the ground was heavy, sticky and slippery underfoot and with both teams having had a long three week break they made a tentative start. Basildon had the better of the first ten minutes, which was mainly played out in the middle of the pitch, but the South Woodham pack soon established their superiority in the scum. A Basildon penalty, conceded just inside their own half, saw SWF drive forward from the scrum with David Bull picking up and scoring under the posts. With the try being converted by Jack Reeve the score was 0 -7. This setback seemed to spur Basildon who started to put their phases of play together and meant that SWF had to mount a spirited defence. The continued Basildon pressure led to SWF giving away a penalty, directly in-front of the posts, 15 metres out from their own try line but it was a let-off for SWF when the kick was missed. For the remainder of the 1st half pitch conditions played a major role with both teams seeming to get ‘bogged-down’ in the middle of the pitch with no flowing play or clear-cut opportunities.
SWF made two substitutions at half-time, with Ryan Marshall and John Murphy being replaced by Sam Randlesome and Sammy Sharp, but Basildon made the more positive start to the 2nd half and strong Basildon pressure led to Curtis Apthorp being yellow-carded. The 14-man SWF team were mounting a stalwart defence but, almost, inevitably Basildon broke the defensive line and went over the Woodham try-line only for Sam Randlesome to dive under the player and stop the ball from being grounded. Basildon continued to try to press-home their 1-man advantage but further strong defence on the SWF try-line saw them unable to convert their pressure into points. A further South Woodham substitution (Jack Reeve off, Leon Gatson on) followed as they tried to regain the momentum in what had become a forwards game mainly due to the extremely difficult heavy, sticky, strength sapping playing conditions. SWF suffered another blow when they went down to 13-men following the yellow carding of James Wilson (for taking out a Basildon player off of the ball) but within a minute Curtis Apthorp was back on the pitch. Woodham were finding it difficult, with only 14 men, to penetrate the Basildon half and play was mainly concentrated in the middle of the pitch where it had become almost impossible to distinguish one team of players from the other. When the 2nd sin bin time was up (John Murphy came on for James Wilson and Ryan Marshall was switched with Greg Tighe) and SWF returned to a full team they once again began to inflict strong pressure on their opponents. Woodham were in full attacking mode and continued to press close to the Basildon try-line but it took a bit of magic between Joe Dukelow and Warren Duggen, close to the touchline, that finally saw Warren score SWF’s second try. The conversion kick, taken by Jordan Harper, was unsuccessful to make the score 0 – 12.
SWF were now totally in control of the game and continued to put pressure on the Basildon try-line. Finally, after yet another wave of attack, Leon Gatson broke through to score Woodham’s 3rd try of the game. With the conversion kick missed the final score was a 0 – 17 victory for South Woodham Ferrers RFC’s 1st XV.
In a game that was, partly, determined by the underfoot conditions the superiority of the SWF forward pack helped them to secure a well deserved but hard-fought first victory of 2015.

South Woodham Squad – Neil Gittos (Captain), John Murphy, David Langley, James Wilson, , Greg Tighe, Ryan Marshall, Lewis Gilbert, David Bull, Joe Dukelow, Adam Brown, James Price, Curtis Apthorp, Jordan Harper, Warren Duggen, Jack Reeve. Substitutes: Sam Randlesome, Leon Gatson, Sammy Sharp