|
Expectations
were high in the Shed after last week’s demolition of Camberley.
Could Lions repeat their devastating display of 15 man rugby
against an Esher side languishing in the bottom half of the table?
The answer was “yes”, but sadly only for the last ten minutes
of what was mostly a fairly bland affair.
The
signs looked good as Lions tore into Esher from the start, and a scrum
offence after 2 minutes gave Jacques Steyn an opportunity to open their
account with a penalty from 35 metres.
His kick was straight and true.
Playing
into a stiff breeze, Esher were running the ball at every opportunity, and
almost caught Lions napping with a break from defence, but a knock on with
men over allowed Lions to maintain the pressure.
There was obviously some fun and games going on in the front row of
the scrum, with Marek Kwisiuk seeming unable to strike for the ball.
The referee showed his displeasure with a good talking to for both
props.
Esher
were enjoying a good share of possession, but were unable to make much
headway against a resolute Lions’ defence.
Another offence by Esher gave Jacques Steyn his second penalty
opportunity from almost the same place as his last kick.
Again he made no mistake. Although
leading, this was not the Lions of last week, but the opposition were
certainly offering more resistance.
A
deft chip and follow up by Dave Muckalt saw the Esher wing bundled into
touch. Lions took the line
and drove, but the spark was somehow missing from the forward play and the
move came to nothing. A
probing kick by Gary Becconsall from the base of a scrum set up Lions’
next attacking opportunity. The
Esher throw at the line was not straight, and again Esher were penalised
for a front row offence at the scrum.
Lions kicked to the corner and an excellent take allowed the
forwards to drive to the Esher line.
Unfortunately they were unable to ground the ball, but they were
awarded a 5-metre scrum. However,
Esher disrupted the Lions’ put in and they were able to clear their
lines.
|
|
| Lions'
supporters were starting to get frustrated, but a moment of magic soon had
them cheering. Another
attacking scrum saw Dave Muckalt pick up and break blind:
Gary Becconsall was on hand to deliver a quick pass to Eddie
Saunders, and the flying wing took full opportunity to scorch over from 30
metres for a touchdown by the posts.
Jacques Steyn added the conversion.
|
 |
Would
Lions now start to dominate play as they did last week?
Sadly not!! They
seemed to be slipping into the nervous, error prone play of previous weeks
which has so frustrated the Lions’ supporters.
Handling errors, wrong options, lack of support for the man with
the ball meant that Esher were able to steadily start to come more into
the game. Lions seemed to be
missing the driving runs and crunching hits of Sam Tovo, although Paul
Thompson was proving a more than able deputy.
Esher
were now enjoying more possession, but never really threatened to break
through a solid Lions’ defence. A
speculative kick bounced badly for Mark Jasnikowski at full back forcing a
knock on. This was Esher’s
first real attacking opportunity in Lions’ half, and when a Lions player
came into a maul from the wrong side, Jon Gregory was able to kick an
excellent penalty against the wind.
Matt
Tassell was cut around his eye in stemming the Esher attack, and had to
leave the field for stitches, Paul Turner coming on as blood replacement.
Esher were now playing with more confidence, and an excellent
tackle by Ian Hyde was called for to prevent a break.
When Esher knocked on in trying to carry on the move, a jinking run
from Eddie Saunders set up the position for Paul Turner to put Dave
Muckalt through on a storming run. Unfortunately
the support was not on hand and the Esher cover held firm.
However, Esher were then penalised for killing the ball, but
Jacques Steyn’s penalty was pulled wide.
A
fairly uninspiring passage of play followed, with neither side really
looking as though they were capable of scoring.
Another penalty offence by Esher allowed Jacques Steyn to plant a
massive kick to the corner, but again the Lions’ take and drive was
ineffective. On the stroke of
half time Jacques Steyn had an opportunity to extend Lions’ lead as
Esher were penalised for offside, but again his kick slid agonisingly the
wrong side of the upright.
|
An
almost uneventful first half drew to a close with Esher probably feeling
the happier of the two sides. Lions
were playing far below the heady heights of last week, but Esher had not
really posed any sort of threat.
Half
time
|
 |
|
Lions
13
Esher
3
|
Dave Muckalt on the attack again
|
Matt
Tassell returned at half time with stitches above and below his eye.
Steve Smith came on for Paul Thompson, and Paul Shadbolt replaced
Phil Greenbury who had struggled towards the end of the first half with a
niggling injury.
Lions
drove in from the kick off, quickly taking play into the Esher half
against the stiff breeze. The
first scrum of the half resulted in yet another penalty against Esher for
a front row offence, but sadly Gary Becconsall knocked on trying to take a
quick tap. Esher drove on
from the scrum, and when Lions infringed, Jon Gregory was able to reduce
the deficit with a simple penalty.
Now
it was Lions’ turn to play in their own half as Esher used the wind to
good effect with long kicks downfield at every opportunity.
Lions tried to drive away from their line, but time and again there
was no-one really hitting the ball at pace and Esher were easily able to
stifle the runs. Another kick
to the corner by Esher saw Lions under more pressure.
From a Lions’ put in at a 5 metre line out, a poor knock down
allowed Mark Butterworth, the Esher flanker, the simple task of pouncing
on the loose ball to give his team the lead.
Jon Gregory’s conversion attempt hit an upright.
Visions
of narrow defeats must have been in every Lions’ supporter’s mind at
this time, but their team now started to play with a sense of urgency.
At last the forwards were driving in hard, supporting the man with
the ball and gaining good yardage. A
penalty took Lions to the Esher 22 metre line.
This was more like it from Lions, and Esher were starting to
buckle. A series of penalties
to Lions saw Esher’s prop, Dan Davis, sin binned for yet another scrum
offence. Now was Lions’
opportunity to capitalise on their numerical superiority, but again
promising moves were let down by poor handling and Esher were able to take
play back into the Lions’ half with a long kick from defence.
Paul
Turner now decided that the ship needed a new master at the helm, and
brought himself on at the expense of Rob Porteus, with Jacques Steyn
moving to his favoured centre role and Ian Hyde moving to the wing. Lions drove back into Esher territory again, but they were
unable to find a way through Esher’s dogged defence.
A long kick by Esher looked to have relieved the pressure, but
Lions had other ideas. Eddie
Saunders retrieved the kick and jinked his way to the half way line. All looked lost as he was submerged in a sea of Esher
tacklers, but somehow the ball was recycled quickly allowing Paul Turner
to give the perfect pass to Mark Jasnikowski steaming up from fullback.
Jaz broke the first line of defence, and when confronted by the
full back found Matt Tassell on hand to take the pass and sprint in for a
glorious try. Jacques Steyne
added a simple conversion to sighs of relief from the Shed.
This
was more like it, but Lions were by no means in the clear, and again the
supporters had to withstand some anxious moments as Lions were penalised.
A long kick to the corner followed by a good catch and drive from
the line out had Lions defending, but strong tackling made sure that Esher
made no headway. Another
score by Lions was called for to settle the supporters’ nerves, and it
was not long in coming.
A
high Gary Becconsall kick was fumbled into touch by Esher.
Lions’ took clean ball from the line out and the forwards crabbed
their way across field to within the shadow of the posts.
Good second phase ball allowed the forwards to drive in again, and
when Matt Davis did brilliantly to hold on to a poor pass to keep the
momentum going, Jacques Steyn was on hand to force his way over.
He also added the conversion.
Lions
now seemed to have the pressure of repeating last week’s performance
taken from their shoulders and more strong play from the forwards saw Matt
Davis power his way over for a well deserved try.
It was good to see Mattie given an opportunity by the selectors,
and he certainly didn’t let them down with a solid performance in the
scrum in difficult circumstances, and some driving runs in the loose. Again, Jacques Steyn added the conversion.
The
final whistle went soon after to end a game that Lions will be relieved to
have won by such a margin.
| Final
result:
|
| Lions
34
Esher
14
|
This
was nowhere near as good an overall performance from Lions as last week,
but at least they stuck to their task and things came right in the end
with three excellent tries. It
was reassuring to see them forcing their way back into a game, rather than
letting the opposition gain the upper hand.
At one point it looked as though it could be another game which
Lions would loose rather than one which the opposition would win.
If
Lions are to gain revenge on Bracknell for the narrow defeat suffered at
their ground, then all 15 players must hit the ground running next week.
We have seen what the team is capable of last week, and again this
week, although sadly only for ten minutes.
A concerted effort next week will see us take a giant step towards
our promotion goal.
|
