Rugby Lions - Match reports, 2003-04

Match Report

Lions fielded a reshuffled side following the absence through injury of Jon Boden and Phil Greenbury. Just to cover Boden's roles, Lee Crofts took over as captain, Sam Stoop moved to fly half and Tim O'Shea was the nominated kicker (and Boden acted as waterbottle boy).

Wharfedale, having no idea what sort of unpleasant weather they were in for overnight, had covered the pitch in heavy tarpaulins. This actually had the effect of sealing the frost in and the game was played on a greasy surface over solid earth - just about the worst to try to cope with.

On 5 minutes, Tim O'Shea missed a straightforward penalty as he found no solid base for his standing foot and hooked wide.

This undermined an aggressive Lions start with Tim Stannard's lift and drop tackle one that brought cries to the crowd's throats.

Dale stormed forward after their let off. Lions defended well in both corners. But then a clearance was deflected and dropped from a height behind the tryline. Lions dropped it and Jonathan Davies plunged onto the ball for a try that David Pears neatly converted for 7-0 on 11 minutes.

Pears was to be the main difference between the sides for his experience told him when to move the ball and when to dink little kicks over or through Lions' defence to cause maximum danger.

But while Rugby saw little possession and less of the Dale 22, they defended with a lot of guts. They got their reward when a rare attack saw the pack drive Matt Davies over with impressive power - all the more surprising as Steve Smith, who otherwise had a storming game, had just been sinbinned for a bodycheck.

But the conversion failed and Dale made it 10-5 at the interval when their Davies kicked a late penalty for a high tackle by Sam Stoop that flattened Pears. Stoop was sinbinned just as Smith returned.

Half Time

Wharedale 10 - Lions 5

The second half was just a titanic struggle between two sides fighting to gain some control of the game on the treacherous surface.

Lions had the early chances but a penalty attempt was missed and an attacking lineout lost.

Ben Wade got Dale's first yellow card after he held back Gareth Collins who was setting off behind his long flykick.

By the 50th minute, Lions had used four replacements, one a bloodbin after Spencer Brown collected a nasty cut down his forehead. This further disrupted a Rugby side not operating as efficiently as they needed to with what had again become pretty meagre possession, although the replacements threw themselves into the game with a gusto.

When Dale lock Dave Lister was sinbinned, Lions wasted the advantage with a kick straight into touch and a knock on.

On 74 minutes, Dale cleared an attack and forced a penalty as they pressured Lions' defence. Davies kicked to open a crucial two-score gap at 13-5.

In the dying moments, with Brittin the latest yellow card, Rugby twice conceded possession too close to their own line for Jim Ogden and Paul Evans to score and stretch Dale's winning margin to an extent which in no way reflected the tightness of the game as a whole.

Rugby Lions: Warner, Collins, Roberts, O'Shea, Brown, Stoop, Rees, Booth, Brittin, Davies, Campton, Stannard, Crofts, Nash, Smith; reps: Carson, Simkiss, Black, South

Musings:

Lions deserved more from the game than such a wide margin of defeat. But Pears proved the difference and the missed kicks at goal cost them the chance to get ahead at any stage.

Backs coach Brett Taylor was in charge for the first time and was very well organised and thorough - and also full of praise for the whole squad's efforts. Pretty it wasn't but Lions didn't travel four hours to the back of beyond just to lie down and accept defeat without a fight.

Match preview

Team news

by Denis Keen

The court has risen, the Judge has resigned and the jury is still out with regard to his successor!

With exactly half of the 26 league games played the Lions find themselves with a one-game deficit that, had justice prevailed at Bournbrook, might well have been an equally balanced account. It is to be hoped that the team can finish the second half of the season with a healthy credit balance.

The number of the year may have changed, but it is a bare 28 days since Wharfedale were at Webb Ellis Road and what a tight game that was. In the interim Wharfedale have beaten Doncaster (H) and Harrogate (A), both of them strong teams. Any disappointment that Dale felt from losing to a lower-order team four weeks ago must have been well and truly dispelled. During the same period Rugby have lost to the leaders, Sedgley Park (A) and beaten mid-table Stourbridge (H). The Lions could so easily have won the game in Manchester but they were far less convincing against Stour, or Dour, as match reporter Don Townend called them. .

So far this season Wharfedale have won nine league games (Rosslyn Park, Bracknell, Esher, Stourbridge, Doncaster and Nuneaton at home and Newbury, Lydney and Harrogate away. Three games have been lost to Moseley (at home) Sedgley Park, Rugby and Nottingham (away).

The last time Rugby travelled to Threshfield they won a hotly contested game 21-34, but managed to collect two yellow cards. One of these was given to Eddie Saunders, his first ever but it was so late in the game that the final whistle had been blown before he had left the field of play. The Lions fullback, Matt Coley was injured in a sandwich tackle but though he did not go off he was sidelined for the rest of the season. Matt was the last in a long line of Rugby School masters who have played for Rugby Football Club’s 1^st XV since the club was first formed in 1867.

Can the Lions win, says an echo from the past that was once all too familiar? The answer is yes, but they will have to be at their very best. They must be wary of conceding penalties in “Pearsland” and they must make their first up tackles count in order to snuff out Dale’s fast attacking moves. No offsides in their own territory!

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