Gosford All Blacks 2XV 60 - Witney 4XV 5
Another difficult afternoon but very intriguing given that Witney had a
reasonably strong side on deck for this away game. However, lack of numbers at
training told as it just did not quite click as a unit and a host of handling
errors and missed tackles through rubbery defensive shape meant the score really
should not have been anything like this.
Witney started with 14 but Gosford very sportingly lent us a player (thanks
guys) and this started a very even game although scrums were uncontested due to
a lack of props. Will Drake really should not have been on the pitch as he was
suffering the aftermath of flu but he managed to hold the line until Craig
Korszeski arrived and put in a great 10 minutes until succumbing to an eye
injury and heading off to hospital. Hopefully Craig is fine (all our best
wishes) but it did mean poor old Will had to drag his body back on the pitch for
the rest of the match.
About 20 minutes in and Gosford managed to get around the outside and bag the
first of three almost back to back tries from long, long range to show why we
need a bit of focus on tackling out wide. Witney were enjoying territory
dominance though and it paid off when a series of pressure hits saw Gosford
fumbling at the back and Tom Nicholls pounced on a ball to run in a try.
Co-incidentally, it was Tom's first try and he used to play for Gosford. Once
again a 10% lift would have seen Witney rewarded with a vastly different
scoreboard but the occasional lapse letting some quick backs to run amok,
sometimes off their own tryline. Enough for this week, next week will be an even
trickier away fixture to league leaders High Wycombe III for the last game
before xmas. That’s a few games in a row now with less than 15 so Witney need to
start getting a few old heads back plus getting a few more to training to be
able to build understanding of players alongside. Some capable men in this team,
we just need to get the whole side working.
4th XV
1. Bill Quarterman, 2. Jason Kilcoyne, 3. Bruno Bryan, 4. Will Drake, 5.
(borrowed), 6. Karl Anders, 7. Clive Manning, 8. Andrew Dubowski, 9. Tim Walker,
10. Alan Cotton, 11. Nick Mason, 12. Andy Bee, 13. Tom Nicholls, 14. Michael
Timms, 15. Malachy Caldicott
Repl:Â 16. Craig Korszeski (got on)
Scorer: Tom Nicholls (try)
