Marlborough 30 – 50 Exmouth
Everyone was pinching themselves, and not just because it was the first of the month, but because the sun was shining on The Common!
Spring has not yet sprung, but the boys were fired up for this game, and it showed. From the kick-off, we went on the offensive, piling on the pressure until Exmouth could do no more than hang on to the ball – penalty. Will Grant stepped up and took the kick to make it 3-0 to the men of Marlborough after just three minutes.
However, Exmouth are not the third-placed team in this league for nothing and they soon got back on the front foot. Using the power of their forwards to give their backs good clean ball, they advanced slowly up the pitch, scoring a try with an expertly-judged and beautifully-caught cross-field kick – the kind of thing you see on the telly! Not converted, it nonetheless made the score 3-5 to the visitors after just five minutes. Breathless stuff.
And it was Exmouth that struck again – this time with a penalty kick on the ten-minute mark. Marlborough 3-8 Exmouth. But Marlborough hit back from the re-start, with a great catch by second-row Metuisela Vereivalu, who then off-loaded the ball to a flying Jonasa Tabua, our blindside flanker, and he broke through the Exmouth defence to score in the corner. Grant could not add the extras, but it was now 8-8.
On the fifteen-minute mark, our pack set up a maul from an attacking line-out and drove forwards, before going through two clever phases, and gifting prop, Lotu Vunipola, a great try under the posts. No mistake from Grant, and it was 15-8. But Exmouth came right back with a powerful maul of their own and, try as we might, we could not keep them out and they scored a good try, which was converted, and so brought the scoreline to Marlborough 15-15 Exmouth.
This was developing into an even and very exciting match – the spectators on the touchline in the sun were thoroughly enjoying their day out. Marlborough were now starting to play well – strong and coherent, with good communication between forwards and backs, thanks in large part to centre, James Adams, who was reading the game well. The next score was Marlborough’s – another fine penalty kick from Grant and we nosed in front again. Marlborough 18-15 Exmouth.
And then Marlborough scored an excellent try, starting with a defensive scrum in our own 22. The ball was picked up at the back by ‘Tabs’ Tabua and he smashed his way through two tacklers before offloading in fine style to winger, Akariva Seruvatu. ‘Aka’ had only the Exmouth full-back to beat and he set him up beautifully, floating a perfectly-timed pass to scrum-half, Manatu Leileifi, who dived over to score. Sadly, this effort was not converted. And Exmouth hit back, scoring a converted try from a very powerful rolling maul with the last play of the half.
Half-Time: Marlborough 23 – 22 Exmouth
Tremendous stuff! Three tries apiece in the first half – a classic on The Common. But Marlborough did not start well in the second half. We struggled a bit to find the gears and were being pushed back, both at the scrum and in the mauls – at which Exmouth are obviously well-drilled and experienced. Penalised at scrum time, we inevitably leaked an early try and Exmouth went back in front 23-29.
This was a wake-up call for Marlborough and we struck back within five minutes thanks to some great work by the forwards getting us up to the Exmouth line. Phase after phase drawing in the Exmouth defence, until we released the backs and Adams went over right under the posts for an excellent score, which was converted by full-back, Sione ‘Jay’ Matakaiongo. Marlborough 30-29 Exmouth and both teams have secured a try bonus point!
This was now an enthralling match and worthy of the bright, sunny conditions. But the deadlock was broken on 68 minutes with another unstoppable maul from Exmouth, which led to another converted try and took the score to 30-36. It was quickly followed by another Exmouth try from a dominant scrum – and we had two forwards hors de combat with quite serious injuries. Converted, this score made it 30-43 and Marlborough were now chasing the game, hoping to secure a second bonus point for losing by 7 or less… When it’s desperate like this, risks are taken, and the sometimes-cruel nature of rugby comes into play. A long pass to our unmarked backs was picked off and Exmouth scored a try with the last play of the game.
Final Score: Marlborough 30 – 50 Exmouth
What is there to say? The scoreline does not reflect how close this game was for very nearly 70 minutes. The effort the boys put in was not far off heroic at times, but it wasn’t to be. The team can be proud of the try bonus; and ‘Tabs’ can be justifiably proud of his Player of the Match accolade.
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2nd XV Away to Colerne RFC
Whilst the 1st XV was battling it out on The Common, the 2nd XV (the Nomads) had travelled to Colerne for their Counties 2 fixture.On the face of it, with the Nomads in first place and Colerne at the bottom of the table, this would be another ‘W’ in the bag for Marlborough… wouldn’t it?
It started well enough, with openside flanker, Wate Kuli, crossing the whitewash within five minutes! Centre and kicker, Samu Tamanivalu, added the extras and we were off. Another fine forwards move saw Number 8, Sione Tamale, powering over just before the twenty-minute mark. Tamanivalu slotted the conversion. And then a neat backs move saw some fine passing and support running, with winger, Nacanieli Dereduadua, touching down within easy range of Tamanivalu, who kicked the conversion and brought the scoreline to Colerne 0-21 Marlborough after scarcely 25 minutes.
But then Colerne hit back. A converted try on the half-hour made it 7-21 and sharpened the Nomads up a bit. Kuli, in impressive form, went over for his second, and Tamanivalu was as accurate as ever, making it 7-28. Colerne came back, scoring an unconverted try just before half-time and, after a breathless first period, the teams went into a much-needed break with the scoreline showing Colerne 12-28 Marlborough.
Half-Time: Colerne 12-28 Marlborough
The second half began in a cagey fashion, with neither side able to exploit the gaps. On the 52-minute mark, Colerne’s efforts were rewarded with a good try, albeit not converted, making it 19-28. And ten minutes later, they struck again, this time their kicker adding the extras and making it a very narrow 26-28. Marlborough would need to respond well. A penalty for Marlborough was expertly lined up by Tamanivalu and our slim advantage was extended ever-so-slightly to 26-31.
Ten minutes from the end, Colerne scored and converted a try. 33-31. This was now on a knife-edge! Within two minutes, we had put things back on track – Tamanivalu scoring a good running try and then ‘splitting the uprights’ to make it 33-38 with some seven minutes on the clock…
With 79 minutes gone… with just 60 seconds remaining… Colerne score a try! The scores are level at 38-38. It all rests on the conversion… which is good! Elation for Colerne; heartbreak for the Nomads. What a game! Six tries for the home side against five tries for Marlborough. Colerne take the ‘W’, but the Nomads return to Marlborough with two bonus points. This was the first defeat for the 2nd XV this season. They remain at the top of the table, having now scored more than 670 points in 16 games this season. Are they in an unassailable position? Let’s not tempt fate…
Final Score: Colerne 40-38 Marlborough
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YOUTH SECTION
Our Minis & Juniors (and their coaches and parents!) also benefitted from bright and sunny weather on The Common – unheard of! The scene at the Clubhouse – with some 200 young people learning and playing rugby was magnificent – impossible to capture in a single phot, but a wonderful sight and proof of the strength in depth of our Club community.
Aside from the training, there were three fixtures on the card for Sunday.
In the first, our Under 13s were delighted to host Oxford Harlequins. Quins are a well-drilled and well-organised squad, and took advantage of some missed tackles and a somewhat narrow defence by the home team to build up a large lead in the first half. However, when Marlborough played down the slope in the second half, the team put some much better phases together and scored a couple of tries that were a joy to watch! The final score was Marlborough 2 tries – 12 tries Oxford Harlequins.
In their nine games this season, this was only the boys’ second defeat, but it was the biggest loss. Nonetheless, match experience like this – in the sunshine and with a good crowd shouting support from the touchlines – is like gold dust! It has given the boys plenty to work on and the knowledge that playing the bigger teams in the surrounding area always leads to improvement. Well done everyone!
In the other junior fixture, Reading Rams were hosted on The Common by our Under 14s. In an enthralling encounter, which went back-and-forth in tremendous style, the Marlborough boys triumphed 36-31 and can be very proud of their achievement.
In the early afternoon, it was the turn of our Colts (Under 18s). This was a Counties Cup quarter-final match against local rivals (and close friends!) Devizes Colts. Our coaches were nervous about this fixture – the boys had beaten Devizes in the pool stages, but having reviewed the footage, it was clear that Devizes blew several chances in the bad weather conditions. In the sun on The Common, it would be unlikely for them to make the same mistakes twice…
Marlborough kicked off going up the notorious slope and, although we nearly gathered the restart, a knock-on gave Devizes the put-in at the first scrum. Their Number 8 picked and went blind, but Corey dropped him immediately (as he promised he would!), although not before he had popped the ball to his blindside flanker on the charge. He met a Hugo at full tilt and was smashed back three metres, off-loading in a bit of a panic into touch. A benchmark for the rest of the team had been set and none of the Marlborough boys were in any doubt that dominant tackles would be expected of them. Hugo returned to us this season – Bath’s loss is Marlborough’s gain!
We think we have a strong back line with a really powerful midfield. However, although to begin with they did their best to hide that fact, it was our pack that really turned up. Strong carries from Chaz, Jonny, Hugo, and Kayden and good clean-outs from Tom, Max, and our tireless flankers Archie and Corey meant that despite no score, the first ten minutes belonged to Marlborough. Having butchered three chances the midfield suddenly fired and, when they do, it’s fantastic. Ed (at 10) to Fred (back at 12 this week) on a loop and Jack (in the 13 shirt) cutting a ‘Jack line’ smashed through and scored to the right of the posts. First score to Marlborough.
From the re-start, our defence proved strong. James P (our smallest player) lined-up the Devizes big No 8 and tackled him to the ground, allowing Hugo to get to the ball, and jackal us a penalty. The coaches hope that Fred won’t mind, but his penalty-kicking performance was complex! This first one he smashed for touch and it went 50 metres; his second came off the side of his boot and went just eight metres forwards and towards the Golf Club; the next two missed touch altogether! But that’s rugby – sunshine or rain.
The Marlborough performance was somewhat piecemeal overall in the first half. There were some instances of really great play, but with some small details missing or poor execution and we squandered our chances. An example of what might have been an exceptional try was when our fly half Ed jackalled the ball on half-way and sprinted up field, only to be cut down three metres short; the support players were too slow to the breakdown and we failed to capitalise on that. But the boys did score two more tries in the half: one through Jack pouncing on a dropped ball by Devizes inside their own 22 and scampering away to score; the other was a well-worked move with Max being the recipient of another pick and go from the ruck. However, we let Devizes back in the game just before half time. Taking our foot off the gas and being a little slow with our line speed and folding round the corner in defence… The referee blew up for the break with the scoreboard reading: Marlborough 17-5 Devizes.
For the second half, we brought on our substitutes. Jimbo, making his first return at 9 since tearing the tendon in his finger back in November, came on with his brother Doug – the first time they’ve ever played together! Jack D came on at Number 8 and Hugo moved back into the front row as the props shared the work load. Danny came on the wing for Felix. A powerful bench!
One thing that didn’t falter all match was our set piece. We had the nudge on Devizes at scrum time thanks to Kayden, Tom, Hugo, and Chaz and we won every line-out we threw in during the whole game. Jonny is fast becoming ‘lord of the line-out’ and when Jack D joined us at half-time he kept the momentum going. We were competitive at the rucks both sides of the ball with Archie & Corey and later Doug & Jack D dominating the space. But we often took it one phase too many or dropped the ball in the backs, mainly because they were too flat or threw a poor pass, leaving Saxon (who has heaps of talent and gas to burn) frustrated out on the wing. The outcome – Marlborough did not score for the first twenty minutes of the second half.
Our dominance had to tell at some point and ironically it was a line-out eight metres from our own goal-line when it happened. Having won clean ball, we failed to protect our kicker at the back of the line-out from being charged down; so Freddie didn’t kick, but side-stepped the rush defence, smashed his way past the line-out, and carried the ball 50 metres up the pitch in one of his trademark runs. His effort set the back line off and, from a quick ruck, the ball went wide to the right and then back to the left and Hugo tumbled over to score. Marlborough 24-5 Devizes. Phew!
It’s fair to say that the Devizes players’ heads probably went down a bit at this point, with several players injured. Seizing the advantage, Marlborough ran in two more tries – another from Jack (a hat-trick!) and then an absolute ‘worldy’ by Danny, who had come off his right wing to score in the left corner. The ball went through at least ten pairs of hands, was moved with real speed, and everything fell into place.
Final Score Marlborough 34-5 Devizes
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CLUB LIFE – THE MARLBOROUGH RUGBY COMMUNITY
A big thank you to all the boys and girls who turned out over the weekend – from the 1st XV right down to the Under 6s. Well done to all!
The sunshine is an obvious factor, but it’s a fabulous time to be part of this Club! If you can join us – whether it’s on the pitch or as part of the coaching set-up, helping with team administration, or simply supporting from the sidelines – we will be delighted to hear from you. Please email info@mrfc.co.uk for more information about all the opportunities available at Marlborough Rugby.
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OUTLOOK
So, looking forwards, we have a ‘must-win’ match for the 1st XV who travel to bottom side Ivybridge. Places on the coach transport are available – please email info@mrfc.co.uk to book your place. The Nomads have a Saturday ‘off’ but are already preparing for their Counties Cup fixture away to Westbury the following weekend, on Saturday 15 March. There is 6 Nations action on the BIG screen at the Club: on Saturday, it’s Ireland vs France (the decider?!) and Scotland vs Wales, whilst the Sunday game sees England take on Italy at Twickenham. The Club is the best place to watch all these games – see you there!
‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for Marlborough Tennis’ Hilda Moore
