Midlands 5 East (North), Sat 10 Mar 2007

Hamians 17 - Dronfield 6

With Adbolton pitches still under water the rescheduled league encounter with Dronfield was transfered to Highfields the university ground.

Internationals , holidays , injuries and the like meant we looked like this

late call offs and no showes changed personal even 10 mins b4 kick off

pikey , alex , hobbit , phil , epsy , draps , vaz , daints , dave , ice , sticki , cookie , oli w , anvil and the fat prop

bench was big rich , jp and jonsey

the aliments in the side ranged from the usual lack of sleep , hangovers , international jet lag and eastern europeon stag weekend arse !!

dronfield direct style of rugby was of concern to the captain with his reshaped pack giving considerable weight and height advantage

the game started at a frantic pace with both sides opting for quick ball and direct running to test tackling prowess

the ref was somewhat taken aback by the ferosity of the exchanges and decided to take the heat out of collisions to penalise competion at the turneover and allowed arcaic timesacle interpretation of holding on to delay to allow their slower forwards to reach the breakdown

Despite penalties allowing them to release pressure it was clear hamians backs were more adventurous in their approach .

Scrum time was providing an attacking platform with the lighter pack causing considerable discomfort to the Dronfield 8

midfield breaks by draps and hartley exploit and epsy twice just fails to secure final pass when scoring possibility created

without this platform dronfield were put on the back foot and hard hiting rucking and interplay between backs and forwards resulted in the game being played inthe visitors 22 for 10 mins .

Desperate defence resulted in the eniveatable score being delayed until from a strong scrummage platform swift backs handling puts epsy in the corner

5 nil

Daints catches kick off and charges upfield scattering would be tacklers drives to ground , good bridging support from the midfield backs secures the ball

ref states going to ground and not staying on feet

kick to touch and good line out result in driving maul needing to be defended . static form defence hobbit nails inside centre . Ball recycled and sequence repeats .

Defence sound and visitors fail to cross gainline , but haimians again penalised as attempt to strip tackler

frustration showing as not being allowed to follow up agressive defence to turn over ball

penalty kicked and 5-3

crap kick off scrum back and flyhalf plays for postion by deep kick to hamins 22 .

Hamins lineout concentration does not complete sequence and defence required .

Dronfield front of line functioning and throwing not being controled with dave despite closing gap still not able to reach ball ( if you get away with it why stop)

mauls set from lineouts failing to gain ground and forward runners being driven back

desperate to run centres tackled but failure to roll away conceeds paenalty on half way line ...back chat brings kick into range

5-6

Half time

Tactics at half time simple in that cut out penalties, allow defence to dominate and exploit opportunities .

From good kick off chase , line out secured

anvil finding range and from platform hobbit gallops 25 yds bouncing tackles , from ruck hamians penalised for over agression when visitors attempt to slow ball .

Competing at lineout wins ball and driving play resulting in good yardage , ball spun wide and wingers and full back combining to make opportunity to score out wide .final pass not to hand and winger escapes to kick to touch

Hamins again running ball with hobbit crashing through ...again contact found wanting and ref awards penalty to visitors

touch find but hamioans swapped jumpers and daves physical central roll and cookies spring mean ball tipped and stolen . drive upwards and pile up gives hamins scrum

sweeping move left and handling advances to 10 yds and scrum repeats
hard up right and well planned move epsy on the angle slices through to regain lead 10-6

Cookie catches kick off and forwards drive on , draps clears down field

frustration setting into dronfield play , as cannot breach cover defence

midfield scrummage hamians front row pressure disrupts ball and against the head . Ball won to rest scrum and drive results in clean ball to backs who exploit opportunity and simple move opens path for epsy to gallop in to complete hatrick

17 -6

from kick off 40yd driving maul secures position up field

Game revolves in last 10 mins of Dronfield sustained pressure from series of lineouts and static mauls

one dave hit tackle crunches centre one yard from line

scrummage pressure results in two turn overs and clearances made ,

Vas ends game with split head and even with clock running down backs create chance to run from own 22 , breaks down midfield to end game

Good workmanlike performance with pleasing aspect defence back to best despite changes and confidence to exploit opportunities anywhere on pitch still remains

league action next week away at Long Eaton ( another local derby ) and the chance to further secure a top three spot