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Droitwich RFC 29 - Spartans 3

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Droitwich maintained their unbeaten league record on Saturday, but did not produce the flowing rugby they are capable of. While they will be pleased with scoring five tries to nil, the number of handling errors and turnovers conceded will concern the coaching staff.

Playing into the blustery gale in the first period, the home side couldn’t create any meaningful attacks, before a speculative quick lineout by Spartans saw the ball land in space, with Droitwich captain Jim Richardson being the first to react and race in to score from half-way. Duncan Hughes added the simple conversion. This score seemed to settle Droitwich who then mounted a period of pressure, which saw the ever alert Nick Godfrey pillage the ball from a Spartans scrum to score. The visitors hit back with a penalty to make the half time score 12 points to 3.

Droitwich started the second half brightly, with a well taken lineout by Paul Sweeney being driven 20 metres for Godfrey to score his second try. The game seemed to then lose its way and became very scrappy. Whenever Droitwich launched an attack it seemed to flounder due to loose passes or handling errors. Spartans mounted attacks of their own, but the home defence was up to the task, with Steve Poke and Ross Coombes being particularly impressive.

As the game began to meander to its conclusion Droitwich seemed to find another gear and began putting together some impressive attacks. Shaun Walker broke up the left to find Simon Pearce and Jon Andrews in support before Coombes gathered the pass to go over. A strong break by Richardson found Poke in support, who set up quick second phase ball for the irrepressible Phil Horton to dive over. Hughes added the tricky conversion to make the final score 29 points to three.

Not a vintage performance by Droitwich, but one that keeps them on top of Midlands Division 4 West (South), a sentiment echoed by Hughes after the game, who added “we never really got out of second gear today, but a win is a win and we are pleased to still be on top of the league.”

Photos are in the gallery section.

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