Midlands 5 East (North), 26th Jan 2008

E.Retford 12 - Hamians 29

who ate all those pies and drank that beer !!!

the comical scenes along the touchline in the last 5 minutes marred what had been a solid hamians perforance

jez practising his mansfield foreplay avoidance with an elderly spectator was the stuff of tales you tell your gradchildren

well up to Retford ...second from top versus second from bottom

Retford must have thought it was a stroll in the park

hamians line up had a more familiar ring about it with returns from long layoffs giving selctuonn the choice of the style of game to play

pikey , bryn , callum , hobbit , yorkie , lamin , draps ...reece, daints , jez , cookie , dave , mozza , anvil and a fat prop

bench ...ice, stickie and alf


Retford had a big pack and plently of pace out wide

up hill with wind first half

Home kick off , we catch it one , drive forward , ruck out , pass ball , 3 kickfor touch 4 , find touch 5 .

Simple

and thats how it was kept

fast rucking ball , runners off lamin meant Retford had to tackle

line outs in wind policed hard by reff

ref allowed game to be a physical contest , but with strict offside meant bith teams had chance to clear ball from ruck and maul

Retford mauling game tried , failed to gain momentum

From the first scrummage clear that hamians were comfortable on own ball , to provide attacking platform ...on opposotion ball pressure causing their front five to buckle

From steady scrummage and clever rotation hamisn spin ball , hobbit on prearranged move cuts back , ping pongs off tackles , frightens full back to score undr post

the most plaesing aspect was the pace of the move and support

7 nil

thyekick off short

central scrummage and lamin breaks up right and good ground

take field postition and secure second scrummage

pressure forces retford back row to stay down ...good lamin half break and hobbit breaks wofefull tackles to score

14 nil

Retford attempting to release runners but stopped on gainline

They do break right and release wing but BRYN drags down , lamin drops on loose ball .

Series of scrums and line outs in hamoans 22 , good defence means attacks repelled in succession

hamoians run out , goerge gets a run around and yorkei gallops 20 metres up pitch .

Scrummage destroyed and hamins reverse put in

from platform hobbit completes ht trick as tacklers are swept aside

21 nil

Retford press again but mistake allows hamians to run ball back , cynical foul to kill play

easy kick so 24 nil


half ends in hmins 22 as refoerd kicking game starting to gain yardage

scrummage platform or lack off means retford are playing game off back foot

half time

second half retford pressure as tackling improves

hamians finding kicing into gale a challengs

from driving play , short pop to hobiit and resultant counterattack , callum dragged down 3 yds short and harsh decision on holding on as line at attackers mercy

retfoed kicking to corners and knowledge of wind penns hamians for fifteen minutes in own 22 . Repeated scrummages are won and driven , but yardage against wind difficult

discpline holding and penalties won as result

to credit reford still tryimg to open out game and clear a kick and chase game givng results to add their weary pack

penalty 22 out given against hamians and card produced . retfors hooker takes a quick tap and starts running to posts , stops as does everyone else as ref giving a card ...oh no he scores ref says not behind back so ok

he is not sure but does to save face

yellow card to fat prop ..cynical pre meditated professional foul ...lying on the ball and trying to get up

hamians re group

retford sense oppertunity

character of hamians shows and taek play up field and yorkie scores 29 -7

dainty hooks with anvil at prop

games continue and mozzw and retford 8 carded

14 versus 13

jez props

clock runs down

spectators and players trding insults

reford score in corner followig dubious knock on and forward pass

sense ref happy to blow whistle to end fracas

hamians toast victory and keep pace with others in table

need to repeat form against north derbyshire at home next week