St Austell 22 – 13 Marlborough
After the disappointment of having started well against Barnstaple last weekend, only to implode and give away the game, the 1st XV was not looking forward to another Saturday on the road – this time all the way to St Austell. Can you go any further west…?!
But Saturday dawned bright and sunny and so there was a glimmer of hope amongst the men as they boarded the team coach early in the morning. Pewsey Vale Coaches have done us proud this season and our trusty driver Russ (accompanied by Mark for this long trip) was his usual cheerful self, encouraging everyone to get fired up! The journey was relatively smooth and the St Austell ground is an impressive venue, with an imposing clubhouse and seating structure, which began filling up with Cornish faithful quite early on!
Like last week, the senior men’s training had gone well. Director of Rugby, Elisi Vunipola, was back and supervising all aspects of the pre-match warm-up and run-through. Coaches Siti and John, and team manager Dave, did their level best to exhort the players to ‘get their game heads on’ and prepare for that first contact. As ever, there was a positive feeling in the squad. And the boys came out firing on all cylinders, aiming to impress a noisy local crowd.
After just six minutes, Marlborough drew first blood thanks to an excellent solo effort by new signing and scrum-half Manatu Leileifi. In his first start for the Club, Manatu read the situation extremely well, broke from the ruck, chipped over, and chased his own kick to score! His try was accurately converted by full-back Sione ‘Jay’ Matakaiongo whose prowess at the kicking tee is flourishing. The visitors had silenced the home supporters. St Austell 0-7 Marlborough.
Just a few minutes later, and with the Marlborough forwards working well together, getting to the breakdown quickly and running good lines off each other, we were awarded a penalty. In front of the posts, it was nonetheless a fair distance out. But young Jay stepped up and smashed the ball through the uprights to make it St Austell 0-10 Marlborough after just fifteen minutes.
But rugby has a habit of upsetting things quite rapidly, and it was the home side next on the scoresheet with a try from an attacking line-out, the ball thrown to the front man, who dashed forwards to score right in the corner. The Marlborough forwards were too slow to cover across in defence and a big forward moving at pace towards a lone winger is an unequal combat! The try was not converted, but it meant the home crowd suddenly had something to shout about as the first quarter came to a close and the scoreboard showed St Austell 5-10 Marlborough.
We then had a good ten-minute period of back-and-forth rugby with plenty of fine running and phase play from both sides. Again, thanks to a degree of coherence in the Marlborough forwards allowing them to maintain pressure on the opposition, we were awarded another penalty, almost in the same spot as the first. Again, Jay stepped up and took the 3 points as calmly as you like. He’s getting really good at this! St Austell 5-13 Marlborough and that’s how it looked as the Referee blew up for the first half.
Half-Time: St Austell 5-13 Marlborough
St Austell – the team and their supporters – were much more vocal in the second half and the pitch was a noisy place to be. In the cacophony of shouting, our hitherto coherent pack started to lose a bit of concentration and the ability to stay focussed at scrum time. As a result, we gave away a number of penalties. These were for minor infringements, but they were nonetheless costly. With the referee’s arm out for advantage to them, St Austell took full advantage of the ‘free ball’ and threw the ball down their back line very quickly, their winger touching down in the corner. Although the conversion went wide, it was now St Austell 10-13 Marlborough and the home crowd could sense a comeback…
As the first quarter of the second half drew to a close, we were foolish to give away an easy penalty and then too slow in defence to front up against a St Austell tap-and-go forwards move. Play-book and training ground stuff, but it worked and they scored another try, which was converted. Even though their lead was slender, they and their crowd were jubilant and our boys looked a little tired. St Austell 17-13 Marlborough.
Our scrum was now under some real pressure and, for reasons that are not clear, we were unable to find the rhythm and power of the first half. Errors crept in and the Referee could do nothing but penalise us. One too many of these and the inevitable came to pass. Prop Ash Horner was sent to the bin on a yellow card. Only eight minutes remaining. Could 14 Marlborough men hold off a rampant St Austell and either score again to win, or at least save a losing bonus point…?
Being a man down in the forwards is an uncomfortable situation at the best of times and now that Marlborough was up against an increasingly dominant St Austell pack, it became clear that our chances of a win were slim at best. Unable to match them up front, our backs were drawn in and our flanks exposed. St Austell scored another try, albeit their kicker was unable to add the extras. Just three more minutes to go and it was St Austell 22-13 Marlborough.
To add insult to injury, one of our players then lashed out in frustration and was immediately dispatched by the Referee with a red card. No excuses. No comebacks. Thirteen against fifteen is a disaster. But the boys held out well and, under pressure, performed admirably to keep St Austell at bay. The final few minutes ticked down with that awful slowness… until the referee brought proceedings to a close.
Final Score: St Austell 22-13 Marlborough
The 1st XV player of the match (as voted for by the St Austell players) was Akariva Seruvatu and the post-match awards, the banter, and the atmosphere in the clubhouse was fantastic – just as rugby ought to be. But there was real disappointment in this young squad, dealt another blow with a second successive defeat on the road… again broadly of our own making. Like last weekend, the first 20 minutes were all Marlborough’s and scoring first gave us real impetus and confidence. There were moments on the pitch where it looked like everything was coming together and the hard work was paying off. But when it starts to unravel, it seems to do so spectacularly.
This was another ‘game of two halves’ and again the result does not accurately reflect the fight that we gave. Our discipline needs looking at, although the technical shortcomings at the scrum were just that – we were not deliberately collapsing, wheeling, or boring in. However, there will be much soul-searching and introspection in this week as we prepare for the home game against league leaders Brixham on Saturday 1 February.
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2nd XV Home to Wootton BassettSo, a second disappointing result for the 1st XV, but the weekend saw our 2nd XV notch up another fabulous win, this time beating Royal Wootton Bassett IIIs 36-10 on The Common.
The Nomads started as they meant to go on and were on the scoreboard after just five minutes through an excellent try by scrum-half Salusalu, which was converted by fly-half Grant, returning to form after injury. Marlborough 12-0 RWB. On the twelve-minute mark, Bassett had a man sent to the bin on a yellow card for a high tackle. Marlborough took full advantage and scored almost right away, moving the ball at pace down the back line for winger Dereduadua to touch down in the corner; from that far out wide, even Grant couldn’t add the extras. Marlborough 12-0 RWB.
Scrum-half Salusalu was now driving things and went over to score his second, although Grant couldn’t convert. Marlborough 17-0 RWB after just seventeen minutes. Relentless stuff! Still a man up, Marlborough kept the pressure on and another score looked certain… but you can’t drop the ball over the tryline! Bassett returned to full strength, but couldn’t keep Marlborough out, conceding again on the half hour. Unconverted, this try by our other flying winger Muakalou (on as a substitute) made it Marlborough 22-0 RWB.
Bassett were awarded a penalty and duly took the 3 points and then it was halftime, with the score at Marlborough 22-3 RWB. The halftime talk was along the lines of “More of the same, lads!” and off we went again. Powerful Centre Grew smashed through a tired Bassett defence for a great score on 44 minutes, which was converted by Grant. Marlborough 29-3 RWB. A yellow card saw Marlborough flanker Neal go to the bin for ten minutes with half an hour to play. Could Bassett capitalise?
The answer was a resounding yes! After just four minutes with Marlborough a man down, the Bassett back row combined to put their No 8 over and their kicker added the 2 points to make it Marlborough 29-10 RWB. The second half was becoming scrappy and cool heads were needed. With Neal back on, and some clever tactical substitutions by team manager Kealey, the Nomads got things back on track. A fine passage of play with quick ball down the back line saw winger Dereduadua go over for his second of the match, converted by Grant to bring the scoreline to Marlborough 36-10 RWB. And that’s how it finished – a try bonus point win in the bag and the undefeated Nomads stay top of the Counties 2 table. The player of the match accolade went to Dereduadua for a solid 80 minutes and two tries. The Nomads’ next game is also a home fixture on Saturday 1 February, when they will host Fairford RFC.
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YOUTH SECTION
The weather – with the combination of Storms Eowyn and Herminia – decided to disrupt proceedings on Sunday! Our high-performing Colts were due to travel to Devizes, but their match had to be postponed. Our Under 16s were leading two tries to nil mid-way through their friendly fixture against Supermarine when it was clear that the show couldn’t go on! Minis & Juniors activities were also disrupted.
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OUTLOOK
Next weekend, things will look very different on The Common. We have both the 1st XV and the 2nd XV at home on Saturday and we have two games of the first weekend of the 6 Nations tournament to show on our big screen at the Clubhouse: Scotland vs Italy at 2.15 p.m. and then Ireland vs England at 4.45 p.m. Marlborough Rugby welcomes you to what promises to be a fantastic afternoon of competitive sporting rugby. Bring you best supporter’s cheer!
50%+ increased charge for Thames Water customers next year….?
