Old Verulamians 3rd XV 10 v 32 Watford RFC 2nd XV

Man of the Match: Richard Yates

The first half looked set to provide quite an upset as the bottom placed OV team overwhelmed Watford in the loose and the tight, with massive inroads being made from the OV pack, who were significantly heavier than their WRFC counterparts.

This, coupled with the treacherous ground conditions led to many unforced errors being made in defence and attack from the WRFC, with the ball slipping from hands when the backs looked threatening, and squirming away from the forwards as they attempted to secure the ball in the ruck.  After numerous scrums, James Sedgley was unfortunately injured and was substituted for S. Menzies.  Watford were kept pinned back by OV’s, to within their own 5m line, with the forwards keeping OVs off a push over try from sheer grit and determination.  However, this amount of pressure could not be withstood forever, and this lead to Watford leaking 2 tries, one being converted by bouncing off the top of the crossbar.

The first half continued in much the same vein, until the final 5 minutes, when the 2^nd team seemed to grow back into the team of 2010 and start playing the rugby that they have been playing all season. Numerous penalties upon the OV line however, were not capitalised upon as the entire team succumbed to white line fever, instead of utilising overlaps, deciding to crash the ball into crowded areas.

The half time whistle provided a welcome break, with the entire team feeling that the first half was done and over with, the second half would become Watford’s own.  Steven’s was replaced by Harris, which led to shuffling of forwards and backs.

From the kick off WRFC transformed into the team that they have been, hitting hard, low and fast in defence.  This led to numerous balls turned over in rucks, leading to a pile up just short of the OV line.  Stuart Menzies saw a gap from the back of the ruck and smashed over, bringing Watford heads up and making them realise that the game was far from over.

A scrum within the OV 22 led to stand in No.8 Andy Lee picking and going, managing to scrape over the line to bring Watford within 2 points of the home side.

For the rest of the half after this, Watford started to play seamless rugby, with not one missed tackle and the ball managing to fly through the air to the backs.  This lead to further scores from Bernarius x 2, Scott Menzies and Richard Yates.  A number of these came straight from the kick off, as OVs seemed to let their heads drop and Watford went for the kill, never stopping until the final whistle blew, and a relieved 2^nd XV squelched their way off the pitch.

Team:

J. Sedgely (Stuart Menzies), G. Psitsialis, M. Pulman, J.Stevens (J.Harris), S.Hill, A.Connely, J.Dorricott, G. Bridge, T.Botha, I.Butcher, M.Hill, A.Lee, Scott Menzies, M.Hill, R.Yates.

Tries: Stuart Menzies, Lee, Scott Menzies, T. Bernarius x 2, Yates

Conversions: Scott Menzies x 1

MOTM: Richard Yates