Back
Anselmians victory on the road
Tony McArdle21 Dec - 11:27
Saints finish the year unbeaten & top of North 1 West
Round 13 saw Saints away at Manchester rugby club, a club who have always proved to be tough opposition in recent seasons. With an early kick off Saints were met with a dry bright day, but the pitch was heavy. Saints yet again were fielding a couple of youngsters due to injury and were a bit understrength compared to previous weeks.
It was Saints who started brightest, dominant at both scrum and line out Lewis Kincart dummied at the back of a ruck before slipping the ball to Ben Jones to outpace the defender to score, converted by Baldwin 0-7. Manchester where now applying pressure to saints tryline however with the ball turned over Ewan Nolan broke down the pitch where the now attacking backline found plenty of room before a cross field kick found Sam Cotgrave who cut in and scored behind the post, easy conversion for Baldwin 0-14.
From the restart it was all Manchester and they were rewarded with a try out wide for their efforts not converted 5-14. The next period of the game saw a midfield battle with both packs not giving an inch, scrum half Kincart picked up behind a ruck to spin the ball out to a speeding centre Nolan who broke a last ditch tackle to score Saints 3rd try converted by the boot of Baldwin for a 5-21 lead. Manchester had other ideas and again managed to cross the try line, converted to make it 12-21, however just before half time Olly Dodd broke through 2 tacklers before strolling in to notch up 4 tries and the bonus point for Saints ,converted by Baldwin for a 12-28 lead. On the stroke of HT though Manchester seized on one of the many handling errors to score again converted and bring the score to 19-28 at HT.
Second half Saints started strong, another cross field kick by Baldwin was collected on the 15m line by Cotgrave who broke through a tackler to score in the corner unconverted 19-33 closely followed by a break by Dodd who slipped Jones in to score in the corner unconverted 19-38 and then Kincart picking up at the base of a ruck to run in between the sticks this time converted by Baldwin for a 19-45 lead.
Manchester’s never say attitude rewarded them with a 4 try bonus point, unconverted 24 45. With a couple of injuries already Saints had to empty the bench and Lennon, returning after a break made a 30m break before passing the ball out to Jones who drawn the man before passing out to Woods to finish, converted by Baldwin 24-52. With both teams noticeably tiring yet again Manchester went into attack getting another converted try, too little to late unfortunately but making the score look a little more respectable at 31-52.
Last play of the game saw Harrison Crowe make a break shrugging off tacklers to score beside the posts converted final score 31-59. Not a great performance but considering the injury list workmanlike, with plenty of room for improvement. Next game is 10th Jan after a 3-week break which should see some players return from injury.
Merry Christmas
It was Saints who started brightest, dominant at both scrum and line out Lewis Kincart dummied at the back of a ruck before slipping the ball to Ben Jones to outpace the defender to score, converted by Baldwin 0-7. Manchester where now applying pressure to saints tryline however with the ball turned over Ewan Nolan broke down the pitch where the now attacking backline found plenty of room before a cross field kick found Sam Cotgrave who cut in and scored behind the post, easy conversion for Baldwin 0-14.
From the restart it was all Manchester and they were rewarded with a try out wide for their efforts not converted 5-14. The next period of the game saw a midfield battle with both packs not giving an inch, scrum half Kincart picked up behind a ruck to spin the ball out to a speeding centre Nolan who broke a last ditch tackle to score Saints 3rd try converted by the boot of Baldwin for a 5-21 lead. Manchester had other ideas and again managed to cross the try line, converted to make it 12-21, however just before half time Olly Dodd broke through 2 tacklers before strolling in to notch up 4 tries and the bonus point for Saints ,converted by Baldwin for a 12-28 lead. On the stroke of HT though Manchester seized on one of the many handling errors to score again converted and bring the score to 19-28 at HT.
Second half Saints started strong, another cross field kick by Baldwin was collected on the 15m line by Cotgrave who broke through a tackler to score in the corner unconverted 19-33 closely followed by a break by Dodd who slipped Jones in to score in the corner unconverted 19-38 and then Kincart picking up at the base of a ruck to run in between the sticks this time converted by Baldwin for a 19-45 lead.
Manchester’s never say attitude rewarded them with a 4 try bonus point, unconverted 24 45. With a couple of injuries already Saints had to empty the bench and Lennon, returning after a break made a 30m break before passing the ball out to Jones who drawn the man before passing out to Woods to finish, converted by Baldwin 24-52. With both teams noticeably tiring yet again Manchester went into attack getting another converted try, too little to late unfortunately but making the score look a little more respectable at 31-52.
Last play of the game saw Harrison Crowe make a break shrugging off tacklers to score beside the posts converted final score 31-59. Not a great performance but considering the injury list workmanlike, with plenty of room for improvement. Next game is 10th Jan after a 3-week break which should see some players return from injury.
Merry Christmas
Further reading