God game good game

Tring Allstars Vs Ealing

Last Saturday saw the 2nds take on Ealing. Both with a 50/50 record in the league so the potential was there to be a competitive game. After a slightly screwed up preparation to the game we finally got underway 20 mins late but Tring started really well out of the blocks. What a difference this can make in the game. Ealing were either shell shocked or could not cope, either way that is the way to start a game of rugby! Really hard running by David Cogger making 20 meters before his mates joined his charge making the best part of a 50 meter maul. This act seemed to be addictive with every forward improving on their number of carries in any game except for James Smith who just had so many strong carries at Colchester is was crazy! Brad carried and hit hard, Sam Mc Cartney had his best game all season. Sam is a big lad to stop but his tackling was fantastic but he really impressed me with his effort to get around the park. Well done mate. In the first half it was a bit like having 8 back row players with Grant Wattleworth, David Scoot getting involved in great support play and defensive work. Tring's back row were a different class. MOTM Martin Nice was superb. This is a difficult thing to be when with James and Hixxy who are both massive workers and honest players. Paul Jelski summed it up pretty well when he asked me who was playing at 6. I told him Martin Nice to which he replied 'there is nothing nice about him he is destroying them'. Not only was Mr. Nice great in defense time and time again he broke the line or committed two or three men to stop him (note to team let's get on shoulders for offloads). At scrum half Jordan had his best game so far. Ran the forwards like a general, box kicked really well with the great efforts of the backs putting pressure on the catcher every time and Jack Draper in particular heading the line on this. Something again I would like to see more of. Jp was as ever Mr. Reliable just doing everything right, him and Jack were against two good centres’s, Top knot and Headhunter but won the battle. Max and Charlie were great in defense and attack totally snuffing out their big wings before they got any momentum. If anything I would like to see them both on the ball a bit more as both offer great attack with their elusive running. Robbie Johnson was at full back, not his first position but was happy to do the job which shows great attitude and was really quite exiting in that position. Sam Masters played a great game at 10. Again his defense was brilliant. Ealing were full of young strong runners who were used to beating people by the way they ran and always a threat, I can see them putting big scores on teams with a lesser defense but with everyone doing their jobs they rarely broke our line. Tring’s rolling maul was really good and so was theirs. I am not quite sure who gave the penalty try, I couldn’t see it, but it was a weapon they used well. Also hat’s off to their scrummage, they seemed to win this and get stronger as the game went on. I think we may have been fortunate when they injured Grant so we had to go uncontested. With the loss of Sam Masters to a horrible head shot resulting in a red card Jack stood in at 10. Luckily we all know we can rely on his kicking out of hand! Finally a massive shout out to Tommy Ward who was as classy as ever coming off the bench to score and give much needed points. Mr. Pecorino the Italian Stallion and Robbie Hinchcliffe both had their first 2nd team games and were fantastic. Really happy with both of them. They came on and added much needed energy against an ever more dangerous Ealing side. They carried and tackled with confidence and both showed they are ready for men’s rugby. Both went into the 2nd row where we were already going backwards with much heavier guys neither gripped or complained which shows great attitude. Then Stallion went onto the wing and made a good break and defended perfectly. Well done and thanks to all involved. A tough game and a win.