It was obvious from the last couple of training sessions that the boys would go into this game in a very confident and aggressive way; and they didn’t disappoint. From the off they were ready to apply the moves practiced with their coaches in recent weeks.
The beautiful sunshine helped in promising a great morning’s rugby.
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Sandbach 1st xiii 40 - 0 Oswestry
Try Scorers: Jimmy Bebbington (2); Alex Bishop; Matt Hopton; Danny Jakeman; Rhys John
Conversions: Rai Bennett (2); Luke Graveson; Rhys John; Greg Wilkes
On loan to Oswestry were Jarvis, Jack, Nick, Matthew M and Tom M.
From the start Sandbach went straight on the attack and immediately Matthew H peeled over from the back of the maul to score the first try of the game. Rai successfully kicked the conversion, which then saw last weeks match reporter “agilely leap” over the hedge to retrieve the ball. (7-0)
From the re-start again Sandbach gained the upper hand, camping out in the visitors’ half. Danny J running and taking an excellent pass to touch down under the posts. Rai again converted. (14-0)
The next action saw Greg collect the ball and a series of good passing moves ensued until it was broken down by the Oswestry backs. From a scrum Oswestry won the ball. This resulted in an attacking move until Joe snatched the ball out of the hands of the Oswestry player. A move across from the right to the left eventually resulted in a try by Chris; but the referee deemed this to be a forward pass. Rhys overturned a scrum and he sniped in for a touch down. Greg converted. (21-0)
A foul committed by the Oswestry full back gave Rhys the opportunity to take a quick penalty. He made an excellent run across field, passed to Chris and then on to Jimmy who scored the last try before half time. Rhys kicked for a conversion. (28-0).
The final move before the half time whistle was an excellent chip and chase by Rai which Danny J collected superbly. He was eventually tackled to break up the move practised in training.
In the second half the loan players to Oswestry were James, Ollie, Chris, Jack, Tom H and Max (on for an injured Oswestry player). Oswestry kicked off and gained a scrum which was won by Sandbach. The Oswestry defenders took Danny J out into touch. From the line out Alex won the ball and confidently ran 30 metres to score an excellent try. The conversion was not made. (33-0)
From the kick off Alex again collected the ball and ran along the wing until running into a well timed tackle. From the maul Alex (again) collected the ball for another try, but this was not given due to a knock on. Oswestry kicked out of defence into the Sandbach half. Sandbach cleanly collected the ball and an excellent move across field involving 7 passes was eventually broken down by the forwards getting in the way of each other. Sandbach were again on the attack and a good run by Jimmy, who at a good pace ran into a post! But he eventually scrambled over for another try. Luke converted. (40-0).
At this point Oswestry came back with much determination. After some minutes of defensive play Rai collected by picking up an Oswestry passing move to once again have the try disallowed, this time for a knock forward in the tackle.
Oswestry put together a nice passing move, only to be stopped 4 metres out by running into touch. Rai’s big kick down field led to Sandbach being on the attack again. The referee signalled last play and from the line out, which was won by the home team the move was tackled into touch.
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Sandbach 2nd xiii 24 - 5 Oswestry
Try Scorers: Matty Murray (2); Chris Reel; Greg Wilkes; Luke Graveson (FOR OSWESTRY!!!)
Conversions: Rhys John (2)
On loan to Oswestry for this game were Nick, Guy, Jarvis, Luke and Joe.
The ball went into touch from the kick off. Oswestry won the line out but the ball was ripped out of the maul by some excellent Sandbach work. Superb passing and support play across field saw Danny P tackled short of the line. From the scrum it was passed out by Jack, eventually ending up with Chris on the wing who cut back at an angle for the first try of the game. The conversion was not made. (5-0)
A period of end to end play with some good Sandbach defence ensued and eventually the ball was kicked into touch by Rai. The visitors then had a spell of some good attacking moves, but these were all broken down by a determined Sandbach. The visitors again on an attacking move were thwarted by a saving tackle on the wing by Tom M. A good kick out of defence by Rai was chased by Kieron into the Oswestry half and Greg touched down. Again the conversion was unsuccessful. (10-0)
A superb tackle by Kieron resulted in a loose ball which was picked up by our very own Luke, playing for Oswestry, who touched the ball over the line. The conversion was charged down by a stampede of Sandbach players. (10-5)
The second half saw Andy switch some of the Sandbach players to try out new positions and confuse the novice match reporter!!
The second half continued in much the same way as the first, with play equally matched, until a penalty taken quickly by Jack, running across field, passing to Rai who was tackled and stopped in his tracks. From this move an attack by Sandbach was ended by the visitors defence. Eventually the Sandbach back line moved the ball out to Matty M for a much deserved try. Converted by Rhys (17-5)
At this point it was noticed that one of the touch judges (A.P.) had abandoned his duties to apply sun block and watch another game on the adjoining pitch. Thankfully his son took over the line.
Another period of very even play with both teams making some great passing moves and strong, aggressive tackles. There was some good attacking play by the visitors which took some determined Sandbach defence in order to get out of their own half. A kick up field which was picked up by Rhys, passed inside for a second try of this game for Matty M. (24-5). Matty converted his own try.
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The coaches commented on an excellent morning of rugby with Oswestry being a very fair and competitive side. They were pleased with the players who performed for the visitors and even the Oswestry coach was impressed with our players’ commitment to them. Andy went on to say that there were lots of tries and lots of good moves, but rugby is not all about scoring tries. There has to be the support from the non-try scorers. Therefore players of the week were awarded to: Tom H and James. A third award was give to Aidan for making a very successful debut.
By our cub reporter, Dave Irving*
*Rated in the top 2 reporters of the season by MatchReportAdvisorUK