Gents 7 – 22 Gaulois
Turf City
Jan 11th 2020
With the first game of the new year upon us there was a lot of enthusiasm going into the game, after a solid week of training the boys looked ready, with a mix of experienced players and some fresh faces the Gents walked onto the pitch through a tunnel created by the Prems boys which included a few back and bum slaps to get the boys even more riled up ready for the game.
The start of the first half looked pretty even between the two teams with multiple switches in possession but it was around the 10 minute mark where Gaulois had an opportunity to put the first points on the board after they were awarded a penalty for hands in the ruck. However the Roosters couldn’t capitalise on this opportunity as the kick steered too far left from the posts as the score stayed 0-0.
Later on in the first half was when things started getting unlucky for the Gents, as Hazmat and Shaik suffered injuries along with the team not getting calls from the refs, but our water boy Rupert took the time to keep the team focused as he forced water down everybody and gave advice on how we were going to win this game.
Shortly after, the Gents got their first opportunity of the match to draw first blood as a penalty was given for hands in the ruck and Dan Scriven was quick to call for his kicking tee for a shot at the posts. Although the kick had the distance, its didn’t have the accuracy as it came off the right post and back into the hands of the Roosters, who looked for a line break from it but it was soon shut down by good scramble defence from the Gents.
The half time whistle blew with the score being 0-0, good tackling and running from the gents in the first half but the handling and support play could have been improved to create more chances as we only looked like scoring once or twice which didn’t happen because of dropped balls.
The first points of the match finally came early in the second half as super sub Josh came on during their lineout, catches their over throw and breaks the line on the right wing to grab a try assist as he passed to Brook who ran a great support line and put the ball down right under the posts. Dan wouldn’t miss his kick this time as he slots it to extend the Gents lead and make the score 7-0, but unfortunately the bad luck continued as Brook picked up a head knock when scoring which caused him to be subbed out for the game.
It didn’t take long for Gaulois to strike back though as they were given a penalty for an apparent high tackle which saw Arthur receive a yellow card which caused HP to blow up on the side line ironically after he told Robbo he needed to be more calm on the side-lines. This penalty put Gaulois near our 5m line and allowed them to quickly pass it through the line to the wing for a try. Although a missed conversion meant the Gents were still winning this game 7-5.
It was obvious all the players were tired as most of the team had played at least 60 minutes at this point, but the team never gave up, still fighting and using our inner mongrel to try prevent more Gaulois tries and to create opportunities, but more injuries came as Josh dislocated his finger, and by this point we didn’t have anymore subs to come on. Gaulois had just put their subs on which meant they had a lot more energy than us at that point, along with an extra player, which they took advantage of by using the mismatch to slowly gain meters and eventually pass it to their unmarked winger who scored in the corner. The conversion was missed again though leaving the door open for a comeback by the Gents. 10-7 to Gaulois.
Gaulois soon shut down any sight of a comeback as they started to break our line more and eventually after multiple missed tackles from the Gents, Gaulois had another try in the corner. With the conversion missed the score was 15-7.
The Gents main focus at this point was to concede no more tries and as hard as the team worked to try achieve this goal, but the lack of fresh legs coming on due to the injuries meant lots of players had to play the full 80 which they weren’t expecting beforehand and exhaustion got the better as Gaulois scored another try breaking through the line and scoring under the posts, this time making the conversion to make the score 22-7 as the ref blew the final whistle to end the game.
Overall, a great defence effort from the team, but a lot to work on in our attack for next weeks match against SCC Tankards, hopefully then our players have recovered from injuries and we wont get as unlucky next time.
3 2 1s for the match:
Jack Tucker
Lloyd Stephens
Arthur Calla
Lloyd Stephens
