SOUTHWOLD 10 – 12 CANTABRIGIANS
Wold’s Poor Discipline Hands Win To Battling Cantabrigians
The weather was dreadful on Southwold Common and the high wind and rain, coming right off the sea, played their part in what was not a grand spectacle of a game. The wind was howling almost straight down the pitch and Cantabs has this advantage with the wind behind them in the first half, but their first try in under ten minutes was nothing to do with the weather.
Cantabs had a scrum five metres out wide on the left hand side , won good ball , and a quick pass from the scrum half to the fly half saw the No 10 simply ghost in over the line without any resistance to speak of from the Wold defence. It was a simple try but a poor one to concede and Wold were trailing by seven points.
For nearly the rest of the half Wold actually dominated possession, but each time they battled their way up the pitch against the wind with ball in hand, as kicking was not an option, they failed to put any points on the board when at vital moments the wet ball slipped from their grasp or passes simply went astray. It was at times painful to watch as time after time Wold lost possession and Cantabs would then clear the ball 40 or 50 metres using the wind and Wold would have to start the process again usually with the same result.
Luke wade did slot an amazing low driven penalty five minutes before the break and it was Wade again who broke away at pace to within five metres of the Cantabs line four minutes later and although the visitors prevented the try they did give away a penalty.
Wold’s scrum pushed the Cantab’s pack backwards and Jamie Jenner at No 8 picked up the ball and crashed over for the try. Wade slotted the conversion from wide on the left against the wind and all the odds and Wold had a deserved lead of three points at half time with the score 10 -7 in Wold’s favour.
It seemed it would be a simple task for Wold in the second half with the aid of the wind to continue to dominate possession and subject to keeping the wet ball in hand a win would be inevitable.
However both sides re-wrote that script, Wold by giving away 14 second half penalties through a simple lack of discipline and Cantabs believing more and more in themselves as the game progressed and Wold failed to score, losing yards each time a penalty was awarded.
Wold had a second scrum push over try disallowed, a decision that still remains a total mystery post match, and on 55 minutes Luke Wade missed a penalty kick just wide of the left hand post from the half way line but against all the odds it was Cantabs who scored a try ten minutes later, wide on the left as Wold again missed two vital tackles.
The conversion was missed but Cantabs had regained the lead at 10 – 12 and it sparked a final fifteen minutes which saw them get stronger and stronger and play out the match mostly in Wold’s half for a memorable win, and one which they deservedly celebrated at the final whistle.
In league terms this was a significant loss for Wold who now find themselves about to embark in a relegation battle, which seems quite unreal in some way given their sparkling start to the season.
There is enough talent in the Wold team to beat any team in the league but they need to get their confidence back and quickly if they are to cement their place in London 2 NE.
The local derby away at Ipswich next Saturday will not be easy fixture within which to start that process.
All pictures courtesy Linda Cayley
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