Old Crocs 17 West 25

By Dave Picken - September 28 2014
Old Crocs 17 West 25
We are making an uncomfortable habit of having to fight our way back into games. After 20 minutes at Broomfield it looked like we would be on the receiving end of a hiding - instead we should have come back with five points...

We were forced to make once change with Joe Rafferty coming in for a poorly Chris Atkins and 18 year old Luke Chapman on the bench.

The visitors had the first attack of the game but Scott Butcher was tackled into touch.

Two minutes later the home backs breached the West defence with ease and winger Gareth Sweeney rounded the cover to go in at the corner. Chris Vine was wide with the conversion and he then missed an easy penalty shot from midfield before Crocs got their second try.

Fly half Gareth Ott broke through and offloaded to flanker Rob Oliver who raced over.

Vine again failed to add the extras, and we enjoyed further luck when two promising attacks by the home backs came to nothing as they opted to kick through instead of using the overlap. Much to our relief both kicks went dead.

To celebrate we managed to score with our  first visit to the home half

 A penalty kick to the corner resulted in a rolling maul from the line-out and Alex Barker touched down in the corner. Stu Waites was narrowly wide with his conversion, but he made no mistake with a penalty after we had clawed their way back up the slope towards the home posts just before the break.

The 10-8 half time scoreline didn’t give any credit to the pressure the home side had exerted before the break, but it was the complete reverse in the second half.

Waites put us ahead after 50 minutes after Crocs were penalised for offside, and then Sam Miller stole a ball at the back of a line-out to charge thirty metres into the home 22.

He was tackled but Ryan Painter was in support to power his way through two tackles to touch down and set up an easy conversion.

Ten minutes later he was on the scoresheet again after West pressure on the home line opened up a gap for him to throw a dummy and wrong-foot the defence. Waites made it 25-10 and we were now in the position of looking for a try bonus point.

We continued to attack opting for scrums instead of penalty kicks only to allow Crocs back into the game when a wild pass was picked up in the home 22 with winger Sweeney taking the play into the West 22.

Gareth Ott again proved elusive, and he was able to send in back row Luke Gardiner and this time Crocs finally got a kick on target.

The home side made a brief attempt to get another score, but it was West who wasted the best opportunity when we were awarded a penalty three metres out in front of the Crocs’ posts with one minute left on the clock..

Unfortunately, another hasty decision to throw the ball out wide almost backfired as it was picked up full back Chris Seymour. Fortunately he was tackled into touch as he raced up the wing.

Old Crossleyans: Chris Seymour, Gareth Sweeney, Ben Greaves, Jack Hamond, Chris Vine, Gareth Ott, Will Travis, Reuben Pollard, Navneet Sembi, Andy Day, Kev McGill, Chris Wood, Luke Gardner, Rob Oliver, Ryan Hammond (captain),

Replacements: John McCormack, Raman Sembi, Matt Schofield

Tries: Sweeney, Oliver, Gardiner.

Cons: Vine (1)

West: Zac Southern, Scott Butcher, Liam Bailey, Peter Youll, Luke Mallinson, Stu Waites, Ryan Painter [Andrew Foreman 60), Ian Pinchen (Jack Angus 62), Andrew Rollins, Adam Coates, Owen Bennett, Joe Rafferty , Alex Barker, Dan Boatman [capt] (Luke Chapman 65), Sam Miller.

Replacements:: Jack Angus, Luke Chapman, Andrew Foreman.

Tries: Barker, Painter (2)

Cons: Waites (2)

Pens: Waites (2)

Referee: Dr Simon Parks [Yorkshire]

 

 

 

 

 

 
Old Crocs 17 West 25
Posted by: Official West Hartlepool RFC (IP Logged)
Date: 28/09/2014 08:38


Re: Old Crocs 17 West 25
Posted by: West Park Allotment (IP Logged)
Date: 29/09/2014 11:02

Well done and great to get that first away win. Sounds like another slow start and that's something we will have to work on.
Ilkley look like a handy outfit so we don't want to be gifting them early points.

Re: Old Crocs 17 West 25
Posted by: Denny Dixon (IP Logged)
Date: 29/09/2014 13:03

Couldn't agree more about Ilkley. we should note their bonus point win to Rochdale more than we managed ( although sounds as if we only played half that game too!!). Further thought is there a colour clash???

Re: Old Crocs 17 West 25
Posted by: Dave Picken (IP Logged)
Date: 29/09/2014 13:52

Not on the day there won't be.

Re: Old Crocs 17 West 25
Posted by: Rozzy 1 (IP Logged)
Date: 29/09/2014 15:29

N Echo's brief mention says that Sam Miller scored two of our tries. Accuracy never was their strong point, mind.

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