West 22 Driffield 12

By Dave Picken - February 22 2015
West 22 Driffield 12
We can all breathe a little easier after an excellent all round performance ended Driffield’s unbeaten run in 2015.

 

 Driffield Match Report

With skipper Danny Boatman outstanding throughout we won all of our line-out ball and pinched half a dozen of Driffield’s - despite giving away many inches in height and a few pounds in weight .

We probably should have had a try bonus point to show for our domination, and we will be missing the hard working Chris Atkins for a game or two after he was sent off in the closing stages.

The red mist descended as he felt he was caught out for not the first time by a Driff player coming in from the side, and his uncharacteristic reaction gave Graeme Ormiston, the 22 year old Scottish exchange referee, no option.

The ref had a very good game and looks to have a bright future ahead of him -next week he’s refereeing a national final at Murrayfield.

We had started the game looking very much as though we’d learnt the lessons of the defeats by Northern and Horden and with Myers, playing a outside centre, looking eager for the ball we could have had a couple of early tries. However, on both occasions the simple ball to the wing was ignored.

We did cross the line after a catch and drive with five West players driving Atkins over. The referee did appear to signal the try but quickly reversed his decision to “held up” as the melee broke up with little complaint from the home players..

So a Zac Southern penalty was all we had to show for our bright start, and there was a distinct feeling of here we go again when Driff made the most of their few opportunities to our 22.

Impressive No 8 Ed Falkingham scored the first. Driffield have a regular exchange with an Australian club which sees two players from each club swapping, and Falkingham spent last summer honing his game down under.

He has returned as a formidable runner in open play and he broke through three or four tackles to go over in the corner.

The conversion was missed, but fly half Col Lucas had a much easier option a few minutes later after the big Driffield second rows barged their way through the middle with Oli Borman touching down.

The West pack had been shunting their bigger opponents around in much the same way they had done against Northern, and yet once again we found ourselves trailing by nine points.

Fortunately, Eldon Myers was playing this time and his try put us right back in the game. It came just a few minutes before the break when the ball was whipped out right .

Myers was stopped short, but as a maul developed he showed the forwards how to score from close range when he picked up and found and found a gap to dive over.

Zac’s conversion put us just two points behind at the break and with the breeze at our backs we continued to dominate territory and possession.

Bailey Action

One feature of recent games has been our lack of composure when staring at the opposition try line. However, there was coolness and intelligence about the try which put us into the lead.

A series of forward drives had the visitors on the back foot and once they’d committed numbers to the breakdown the ball was quickly moved out left where Sam Miller was waiting in acres of space to stride over from 15 metres.

The conversion put us five points clear and the next score was going to be the most important of the afternoon.

It came when Stu Waites capped another bright and intelligent game at fly half with a neat intercept from inside his own half. He outpaced the defence to go over and did his best to get close to the posts, but not close enough as this time Southern failed with the conversion.

That was to be the end of the scoring. We had enough possession to have got an elusive try bonus point, but against a side which has claimed some notable scalps this year the win was the most important thing.

We did have to play the last ten minutes without Chrissy Atkins but Driffield spurned their only real chance when a pass out to the left wing went to ground when a try was looking definitely on.

The other results went our way to give us that seven point cushion. There is another crucial round next week when we are at Alnwick, who also need the points, while Bradford and Bingley, the team currently occupying the third relegation place, host the in-form Ilkley.

 

West: Zac Southern, Scott Butcher, Eldon Myers, Peter Youll, Callum Johnston. Stu Waites, Ryan Painter, Ross Wood, Andrew Rollins, Adam Coates, Owen Bennett, Chris Atkins, Liam Bailey, Dan Boatman (c), Sam Miller.

Reps (all used): Michael Hogan, Jay Corbett, Greg Edwards.

Tries: Myers, Miller, Waites.

Cons: Southern (2)

Pens: Southern (1)

Red Card: Atkins

Driffield: Sam Furbank, Ben Blacker, Joe Robinson, Alex Piercey, Rob Murray, Col Lucas, Josh Holman, Dave Llewellyn, Guy Brumfield, Paul Dervey (c), Oli Borman, Oli Cooper, Grant Staples, Josh Parker, Ed Falkingham.

Reps: Simon Pettinger, James Mewburn, Jeremy Harrison.

Tries: Falkingham, Borman.

Cons: Lucas (1)

Referee: Graeme Ormiston (Scottish Society)

 

 
West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: Official West Hartlepool RFC (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2015 11:52


Re: West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: Rozzy 1 (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2015 12:03

It WAS a good win, and Danny Boatman WAS outstanding, but the ref needs to miss a lot less than he did if he is to make the progress Dave suggests he will. Time is on his side, though.
Good to see the backs showing a lot more purpose than in some games in a team performance that showed how high up the table we could be if we were more consistent from game to game.
But those 20-yard passes should carry a health warning for spectators!

Re: West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: Peter Wilkinson (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2015 13:05

Interesting that the Driff report calls the west pack sizeable, I thought that of theirs. An excellent west team performance against an in form side. Well done

Re: West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: Denny Dixon (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2015 13:20

Sounds even better than the ongoing report of Saturday. We do however need to develop a killer instinct if we had the amount of territory and possession it is reported we had at the beginning and end of the game. Bonus points do seem hard for us to come by this year. I am sure that we could be further up the league and have the capability to do so. We don't seem to have the "nowse" or the mind maturity that is needed to be there. Maybe this extra year of experience will enable a young side to develop this!!! Next week we need to keep up our spirit and we should be going allout for a continuation of this week. I note Alnwick's result against Horden which should give us extra impetus to ensure at least a result. Let us ensure we hold on to that 8th position !!! Once again well done WEST!!

Re: West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: West Park Allotment (IP Logged)
Date: 23/02/2015 14:06

Great result. Keep putting the work in at training cos we're not out of the woods yet.

Re: West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: Denny Dixon (IP Logged)
Date: 24/02/2015 03:47

Agreed and I reckon we need to target at least 3 more wins. Not easy with our six last fixtures!!

Re: West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: Parental Unit (IP Logged)
Date: 24/02/2015 11:57

Good points made in all the reports about not taking our chances. Only Horden have scored less points than us and a few more bonus points along the way would have been a big help.
I'm sure Eldon Myers will make a big difference as he already has a lot of experience for a young lad.

Re: West 22 Driffield 12
Posted by: Rozzy 1 (IP Logged)
Date: 24/02/2015 17:35

Looking at the video, I'm sure the ref awarded that early West try then quickly changed his mind.

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