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November 21 2009 - Old Brodleians 10 Hull Ionians Hawks 26 - Yorkshire Premier League
Team: Endersby, Thundercliffe, Greene, Waddy, Johnson, Gordon, Barrass, Hall, Forth, Wilson, Hill, Carew, Liddle, Dodge, Cussack.
The Old Brodleians ground is set in the
sort of location that inspires the aesthete, but on a thoroughly miserable
afternoon it failed to inspire either team to any sort of greatness. It was
dour. Both sides were able to turn out strong teams, neither side having first
XV fixtures, the Hawks had the luxury of 4 replacements. Ionians secured a
comfortable victory due to some determined defending and the pace and class of
skipper of the day James Greene who made 1 try and scored 2 as the Hawks made
the game safe in the final quarter.
Brods started the match with the benefit of the slope and the wind and looked to
establish field position by kicking deep, then having the forwards driving close
off ruck and maul. Ionians defended manfully led by the back row pair of Cussack
and Liddle and aided and abetted by Gordon and Greene. For long periods in the
first half the game was a midfield stalemate. Poor handling, which was
understandable in the conditions, and poor decision making, which wasn’t,
frustrating players and spectators alike. Ionians opened the scoring; inevitably
it was a try by the forwards. The Hawks worked the ball up the field through a
combination of forward drives and close support play. Ionians were awarded a
scrum and from second phase, mauled the ball over the line for Scott Wilson to
claim the try. Ian Gordon tagged on the goal. Brods quickly reduced the deficit
when they were awarded a penalty for handling in the ruck. (That’s my guess
anyway; unfortunately the ref was poor at communicating his decisions all
afternoon).
At half time the Hawks rang the changes, new boys Townsend and Smith replaced
Thundercliffe and Johnson on the wings and Rice fitting in the front row for
Forth. Mike Owen had to wait his chance for 10 minutes because Dodge had been
yellow carded for the indiscretion that led to the Brods score. Precious little
else changed. The rain continued to fall, handling errors abounded and forward
play was the order of the day. Inspiration came from the unlikely source of the
touch line. Manager Wilson swapped Smith to scrum half and Barrass to the wing
and the game came alight. Firstly Barrass, given a bit of space, showed a nice
turn of pace and made a good break down the wing, and then the other backs
joined in. Aided by quicker ball Ionians came alive in the backs. Greene made a
lovely break on half way to put Townsend in at the corner, Gordon narrowly
missing a difficult conversion. Having seen what works the Hawks repeated the
feat twice more: forward drive, quick ball, quick hands, quick feet, try, goal.
Greene and Gordon supplying the points on both occasions to lead 26 – 3.
Brodlians responded with the final try, they kicked up field more in hope than
expectation but the luckless Barrass allowed the slippery ball to escape from
his grasp and the Brods winger accepted the simplest of tries which was duly
converted to leave the final score 10-26.
It was a workman like display from the Hawks. James Liddle was the pick of a
hard working pack which produced a solid performance in the scrum if a rather
mixed day in the line-out and was excellent in defence. Ian Gordon had a good
day at fly half, with some impressive work in defence. James Greene produced the
outstanding display of the day, his ability to spot the gap and accelerate
smoothly away set him apart. It’s somewhat ironic that those very qualities
deserted him behind the wheel, crashing as he exited the car park before he got
into second! Never mind James.