Edwardians 15 - Droitwich 10

Saturday, 21st January, 2006

Droitwich turned in a lacklustre performance in this top of the table clash on Saturday.

On a fine day for rugby Droitwich didn’t seem to get out of first gear during the first half and failed to play to their strengths. A succession of loose passes, dropped balls and infringements meant the Spa side were unable to play with any fluidity. However, they were not aided by a referee whose decision-making was erratic and inconsistent at best. Droitwich repeatedly found themselves on the wrong end of a number of highly contentious refereeing decisions.

An Edwardians attack through the midfield broke down when the ball was knocked on. Droitwich gathered possession and the ball fell to Ben Cottrell to clear. The referee appeared to be playing advantage to Droitwich. When the Edwardians defence charged down Cottrell’s clearance kick from an offside position it seemed a formality that the ref would blow up. However, he allowed play to continue and the Edwardians full back made good his opportunity and dived on the ball to put the home side into the lead. Droitwich were incensed by the awarding of the try. It was scant consolation that the Edwardians scrum-half failed to kick the easy conversion.

Shortly afterwards more Edwardians pressure led to another try, scored by their outside-centre under the posts. This time the two points were converted. Matt Blackmore reduced the arrears with a well struck penalty shortly before the break. With the score at 12--3 Droitwich were still in touch, but the second-half would require a transformation in fortunes.

The second period began much the same as the first with Droitwich unable to win any quality possession. The introduction of Chris Hooper at outside-centre gave them more cutting edge in the three quarters, and Craig Burgess coming on at scrum half seemed to give the side more urgency.

As the game approached the final quarter it seemed that Droitwich were finally beginning to wake up, but by this time they were chasing the game, and, despite several strong surges by Hooper and Phil Horton, the final pass never seemed to go to hand.

A well taken long range drop goal by the Edwardians fly-half extended the home side’s lead to 15--3. To make matters worse for Droitwich, second-row Ian Craig was sent to the sin bin. But it was only with their backs well and truly against the wall that Droitwich found some fluency to their play. They managed to lift the tempo of the game and, rather than take the ball to ground, they began to offload in the tackle.

Edwardians were now on the back foot, but their defence remained organised. As the ball moved to the blindside Pete Murphy drew the defence before slipping a neat inside ball to Will Bolton, who by now had moved to outside-centre to allow Hooper to play in his favoured position at full-back. Bolton hit a good angle and ran in virtually unopposed to give Droitwich the slightest hint of a chance. Blackmore converted and Droitwich were five points adrift with five minutes to play.

It was, however, a case of too little too late. One last effort by the visitors was repelled and Edwardians took the victory and the spoils.

The match was somewhat reminiscent of Droitwich’s defeat to Berkswell before Christmas. Droitwich only managed to find a higher gear in the final quarter where they actually played some very good rugby:- a high tempo; direct running; and lots of offloading in the tackle. Undoubtedly this is how Droitwich need to play from the kick-off.

Defeat against Edwardians dealt a serious blow to Droitwich’s promotion ambitions. However, the second half of the season is full of potential banana skins for table-topping promotion candidates Stourbridge and Edwardians. Both sides have yet to travel to Worcester, Cleobury Mortimer and Berkswell & Balsall. Berkswell are unbeaten at home in the league and Worcester and Cleobury have only one home defeat each. There is still hope, but Droitwich must win all of their remaining league fixtures to have a chance.

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