Harlow 4th XV 20 Ravens RUFC 39

Friendly 

A re-arranged fixture saw the 4th team travel to Gants Hill to play Ravens RUFC.  This was a 4th team who were struggling for numbers even managing to lose a player on the way who could not find the ground and had no means of contacting anyone.  On arrival there were a group of young lads chucking a ball about and speaking Afrikaans, at this point alarm bells started to ring. I thought I had arranged a friendly against a team who surely just wanted a nice friendly game, not beat us with some overseas players.  One of the opposition was just all muscle, with a face like a bloke who had just eaten his bodyweight in lemons, he was to cause us a few problems. 

We had borrowed a few players this week and thanks go to Matt Johnson, James Hodges, Banksy and a couple of guys who had their first taste of 4th team rugby.  We lost the toss and played with the sun behind us in the first half.  The scrum got off to a great start, with our pack firing on all cylinders we pushed the Ravens  off their own put in, the new scrum half making his debut spinning the ball out too the backs and off we went.  The opposition number 8(Mr Scowl from now on) had a bit of an impact, he went through his tackles like a train, leaving bits of people lying all over the field.  The referee set his stall out after about 5 minutes when he sin binned a Ravens player for persistent dissent, out went the toys from the pram and a little tantrum ensued.  Our first score came as the pack drove Ravens back over their try line, the ball was well controlled at the back by Aunty and he did well to let gravity take over, smothering the ball over the line(actually meant smuggling but never mind) and we scored. Crabby added the conversion making it 7-0.  The 10 subs and 20 odd fans watching went a bit quieter as we took the lead, when we added our second through Matt Johnson they went even quieter, we put pressure on the winger, after a high box kick found him isolated, with 3 attackers all over him it was all he could do to hold on.  Johnno took a quick tap and powered over from close range, again Crabby converted and we led 14-0.

Ravens then discovered our weak spot, using their South African backs to great advantage they span the ball out wide and pressurised our winger, great cover tackles by James Hodges stopped them scoring, however it was only a matter of time.  They ran in 4 tries I think as the sunshine and pace took its toll.  We had lost Karl earlier in the half when he received the full “Scowl” treatment, this left him dazed and confused in a big heap, luckily we had a sub.

The referee warned both teams that he would not put up with any dissent, this meant that I had to shut up having been penalised for not addressing him as “Sir”, he had a great game, as an ex front-row player he was not putting up with any mischief.

At half time we gathered for a water break and decided that as we had no subs we couldn’t make any changes to our team.  A shame really as Ravens opted to use all of theirs which was just what we needed to see, fresh legs    Oh Joy!

The second half saw Ravens use the speed and ability of the backs to score 3 more tries, we defended well with Matt Johnson tackling like a demon, he was the only person to put Scowl on the floor single handed.  Unfortunately Scowl had taken it upon himself to just smash people, Mumbles has a concussion, Warren has bad ribs, several people ended up feeling a bit battered. We elected to kick 2 penalties this half wanting some points to show for the pressure we put on them.

Game over and off for a hot shower, beers and a BBQ.  Interesting that the non-SA Ravens were a nice bunch of guys, but they need the SA to get a team out.

Throughout the game Barney had won all of our line out ball and disrupted their throw ins, unfortunately Scowl (who apparently is a hooker for his real team) took over the throwing in duties, pin point accuracy ensued over about 20 metres straight to the scrum half.  The whole team played well leaving the pitch with heads held high slightly battered and bruised.

Comedy moments-The sin binned player telling the ref he was not going to play if he was going to referee like that, oh well, see ya in 10 minutes.

Listening to the opposition backs communicating in Afrikaans.

The Ravens flanker trying to put the ball into the scrum every time it was our put in (Neil Back style), even when he had been asked loudly to stop.

Warren asking if he could go onto the wing due to his injured ribs and bringing the mighty Hammer into the centres.

Every person who got hit late by Scowl and wondering why it was not a penalty, and there were plenty of us.

The Ravens try scorer who crossed the line twice, only to have both disallowed for “unsporting conduct”.  Danny Fitz told him afterwards, once is foolish, but twice is just plain stupid.  Great refereeing we all thought.

Us Booing the opposition, for going uncontested near the end of the game.

Roman delivering a try stopping tackle beneath our posts, no-one really knowing how he managed it, least of all him.

MOTM-  Matt Johnson and James Hodges deserve a lot of praise for tackling solidly for the whole game. Everyone else that played also deserves a mention as no-one gave in until the final whistle.

COTM-Mumbles and Karl both had new boots and ended up with concussion.

Opposition COTM-Scowl, who should go and play for a team that get harder opposition than Harlow 4ths.

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