Welwyn 17 TABARD 14 – London
League 2 North
Tabard had
an opportunity to snatch a point in their long battle against relegation on
Saturday but over eagerness to go for the victory cost them dear when, instead of converting a
penalty in front of the posts, they
opted to run it and were unsuccessful.
Thus, they ended up losing to Welwyn by 17 points to 14.
Tabard are
still dogged by a lot of bad luck and, early in the first
half the loss of second row John Crocker gave Welwyn an early mastery
in the scrums that they were able to
use to their advantage and there is no doubt that Welwyn were the better
side in the first half. However, in the
second Tabard showed a determination to win which almost pulled off a victory and gave them second half
honours. This turn round was all to do
with gritty performances from scrum half Francois Karstel,
ably supported by number 8, Scott Stoba and flanker
Ben Matheson. Added to this the Tabard
three-quarter line showed some flair and
handling that has been lacking this season and there is no doubt that, given
the determination, they can still avoid relegation.
Welwyn
opened the scoring
with a penalty from stand off Hughes and, generally speaking,
were well on top in the first half but Tabard’s defence was as tenacious as
ever and Welwyn were kept out for a long
time before their wing Muggeridge scored from good scrum
ball and Hughes converted.
Tabard then showed that they had the ability to score when, from an
attacking position stand off Jack Reilly kicked over the defence, wing Neil Hopcroft gathered the
ball at pace and was clear to score under the posts, giving Reilly an easy
conversion.
Then
Tabards luck ran out again. This time
they successfully charged down a Welwyn kick but the ball bounced back from the
Welwyn players and the pursuing Welwyn wing Coughlin found the ball in space
and scored for Hughes to convert. Half
time and Tabard were down 17 points to 7.
In the
second half Tabard were a changed side, living off hard earned possession they
ran the ball at
every opportunity. Reward for their
efforts came on 55 minutes when, from a scrum the ball was passed swiftly out, centre Ed George made the
initial surge and passed to wing Mike Thomas for the score which Reilly
converted to bring Tabard to within three points. Tabard then had a good period, a pick up from the base of the scrum by Stoba nearly took him over after a 50 metre run and several
other times Tabard came close until minutes from
time they ran the vital penalty. Tabard now have a huge mountain to climb in the second half of the season
to avoid relegation.
Team: Smith, Thomas, Orchard, Woodard, Hopcroft,
Reilly, Karstel, Baker, Gates, Davey,
Crocker(Wilkinson 15m), Montagu, Ashcroft,
Matheson and Stoba.