Mixed Team Produce the Goods!

Massive thanks to Crawley who stepped in, with a mix of their 2’s and 3’s, to give us a game after Newick cancelled earlier in the week. Crawley 2’s play in the league above our second team so we knew this would be a test, and an ideal opportunity to try out some new (and old) players and some new combinations. Regular readers will know how slowly we have started over the last few weeks, even going behind in a couple of fixtures, before getting ourselves into the game. Well, we were determined to put this right! Our warm up was fantastic and attitudes spot on as the excellent ref (Good referees who let the game flow, make our Saturdays so much better) blew his whistle to start the match.

We were two tries up after five minutes, and although Crawley rallied and scored an excellent repost, I was delighted with how all the boys started with discipline, intensity and passion. We scored 10 tries throughout the game and the ref reliably informed me the final score was 64 - 19. There was an unfortunate injury to one of the Crawley players early in the second half and all our thoughts are with him - Hope it’s not too serious buddy.

Some special mentions must go to Stokes and Miller who shared the scrum half duty’s in what was a first at this level for both players. Excellent service from the pair of you and has given me real food for thought. Skip also moving from 9 to 10 was a big learning curve but he managed the game brilliantly as if he did it every week - well done mate (Your brother couldn’t have done it!!!). Oli Brown playing his first game of the season for us was a massive bonus - hugely looking forward to having you in the squad in the new year! Roser, stepping out of retirement - again, was a huge pleasure and even coaching the ancient EGRFC Chairman, Marsh, into his boots this week was a rare treat! Barney seemed to survive his first game since our first of the year, without his hamstring going twang, which bodes well for the rest of the season. Robbie continued his awesome form with a quadruplet of tries from outside centre and Robo had one of his best games, with even a dummy and pirouette, followed by a delightfully deft offload for one of our tries.

The thing that has caused the biggest stir however was the introduction of Marriott at 8 in the second half. Head coach Rhodri Lewis could hardly contain his excitement. I quote: “Rarely has a player changed a game with such panache as Marriott did today. His physicality, dynamism, athletic poise and attractiveness turned the normally dull set piece into a thing of outstanding beauty. If all players applied themselves to the game like Marriott, EGRFC would be swiftly moving to a new level of rugby.”