Letchworth 4th XV 12 Harlow 4th XV 31

Merit Table

Saturday 26th September 2009

Hot and sunny weather is always a bonus for the 4th team, as we are all such athletes, leaving the water bottles behind was a great start to the day and would have made me COTM, but I was usurped.
Got changed, expecting to see all the teams at home, only to discover that both the 2s and 1s had been called off. Chinese whispers were that only one pitch was playable (in all fairness, it was quite small) and we were the chosen team. There was a large squad warming up when we got onto the pitch and we intimidated them by forming a 4th team circle and dropping a lot of passes.
Picked the team and off we went. The referee was an ex front row player and stood for no nonsense throughout the game, he warned us that he was worried about not keeping up with play, closer inspection revealed he was talking to me, Justin, Danny F, Chris Powell, Neal and John Stock all of whom laughed as we are all renowned for our speed around the pitch.
We opened the scoring when Justin went in from close range after a series of penalties moved us closer to their line, a warning to one of the opposition revealed that perhaps there were a few players for Letchworth used to playing up the club, Justin (Singeit) drew the defence, dummied to Swampy and drove over the line. Crabby converted and off we went. The second score was Justin (Singeit) again, this time he went blind and again used his power and slight build to smash over for another try. Letchworth were a bit stunned to say the least, all the backs moves were not going to plan and their scrum was not having a nice time of it.
Letchworth scored one themselves this half but were unable to make any impression on a resolute defence. Their backs were up very quickly on our back line which made it difficult to play the open running rugby that we are used to. Swampy was taking all of our line out ball, helped by Neals throwing in which was spot on.
The second half saw us playing with the sun behind us, a few tactical changes gave us fresh legs in some areas and gave some a break to rest their injuries. The second half saw our scrum continue to dominate, pushing them off the ball almost at will. John Stock popped his opposite number straight up in the air, only to be penalised, although I think the ref secretly enjoyed it. He had given the opposition prop some scrummaging advice at half time, but to no avail.
From a line out Swampy peeled off and popped the ball to Danny F, he was never going to be stopped, despite the valiant efforts of about half of the opposition. Crabby converted again, as he was returning from injury all of the scores were close to the posts just in case. Letchworth replied with a try of their own when they found themselves with a 2 on 1 overlap which they dutifully scored, but were unable to convert. Just to make totally sure, Crabby kicked a penalty, and Big Dan took a ball at pace after our number 8 popped it up to him and he, like Danny, was totally unstoppable, I thought Dan could have gotten closer to the posts but I think he thought it was time Crabby had a challenge.
The match ended with Letchworth furiously attacking and us even more furiously defending, all good fun.
Gaggy came on as a substitute in the 2nd row, one of his old positions apparently. Hammer defended his wing, like a demon as did Rob Spinks.
Big Andy and Ben both took a break to relieve injuries, allowing other people to get a game.

Comedy moments-
James not taking a drop goal for a 22 drop out, but instead hoofing it down the pitch, straight out of hand.
One of the Letchworth players taking a tap penalty, looking up and seeing Danny F running towards him arms outstretched and running straight into his arms, which shut like a venus fly trap and then splat ( the ref enjoyed this for sure)
Darren cleaning someone out big style, looked like a car crash when he had finished.
The referee calling “no ,no” apparently to one of our players who was offside, and the whole team momentarily stopping.
Being penalised for delaying the throw in at a line out, while we waited for an opposition player to do his laces up.
COTM- A new move has been invented by the 4th team number 8. It involves picking up from the base of the scrum and going up a non-existent blind side, usually full of defending players. In his honour and because he was the first person to do this we call it the “Trigger” move, it was demonstrated again this week by Aunty who was having a great game up until then.
I thought my instructions were quite explicit when I requested he pick the ball up and pass it straight to me, but I was probably wrong.
James came close with his full toss drop out as well, sportingly Letchworth let us take it again, this made it doubly embarrassing for james.
 

To view more match reports - click here