1st XV Merton 51 Reigate 10 Surrey Bowl Semi-FinalAfter a tasty breakfast of soup, pasta and smoked salmon sandwiches, courtesy of John the Fish, the boys were hungry to get to grips with a Reigate side that we had narrowly beaten six weeks previously. The front-row ‘crisis’ continued for another week, the Power strapping himself up to make the starting line-up where he was joined by Trevor, fresh from leading the Twos to a successful season. We also had the tantalising prospect of Darren and Tim on the flanks, and they certainly did not disappoint.
We played up the slope in the opening half and soon had the oppo pinned back. Despite a few sparkling moves, we could not make it across the whitewash, and had to settle for a hat-trick of penalties from Frankie to open our account. A couple of times Gate moved the ball wide, their young winger fancying his chances on the outside but being taken into touch by great tackling from Mike. We continued to look dangerous, one move seeing superb sleight of hand from Trevor to slip out a pass which almost resulted in a try from James N. Having gone close once, Mike finally made it over the line under the sticks, wriggling his way out of a tackle to dot down.
Our second try came after Garth had been illegally baulked whilst going for the line, the resulting penalty seeing him pay back the ‘sucker’ by smashing his way over. Buoyed by this, we kept the momentum going when Darren slid away up the blindside to dive over, Frankie again adding the extras. Darren completed his brace in bizarre circumstances, a drop-out 22 from Gate bouncing nicely into his hands for him to race over unmolested.
We reached half-time thirty-seven points to the good, and eager to carry on the good work in the second period. The oppo, to their credit, came back at us, and managed to cross our line twice. However, in the final quarter we cut loose again, Scotchie, irked by a few personal comments from his opposite number, broke through twice and offloaded in style to James N, who dashed under the posts. Frankie stroked over both conversions to give him twenty-one points for the afternoon with some quality kicking. This was a superlative performance from the boys, which had the home support purring on the touchline. Even the introduction of James, Anthony, Neil and Andy T was seamless, and each one of them made a contribution. Some of the passing and offloading was simply brilliant – even Burf must have been happy!
There were a few contenders for the man-of-the-match spot, but Jimmy Sowersby nicked it for a fantastic game, in the tight and in the loose. We now look forward to our final game of the season, hoping that we can finish it off in style and retain the Surrey Bowl. A few selection issues to sort out, with the return of Tom, Dean, Legs, Sam and Dan to the squad, but it is a good problem to have.
Scorers: Darren Glossop 2T; James Newbury 2T; Mike Garnett 1T; Garth Hume 1T; Frankie Murray 6C 3P
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