theres always 2 sides to a story.....check out the match report on Old Streets website, the comment about our 8th man was quite amusing.....
http://www.oldstreetrugby.com/reports/141006.htmHackney Marshes
So, a point won, or a point dropped? A point won, in a scrappy game, where Street were nowhere near their best, against decent opposition. A point dropped, against a side that the management will feel that we should be beating if we have pretensions to win this league. The debate will rage in the pubs and bars of Shoreditch for literally minutes.
Anticipation and build up to the game was intense, with Street looking to build on their impressive start to the season, both in terms of performances and results. At midweek training, while the forwards were doing good lineout work, Captain Burley was telling anyone that would listen that it was a “must win game”. Preparations were hampered though, with the late withdrawal of key lineout man, lock Ade King I, to a mysterious bout of food poisoning. King was unavailable for comment at time of going to print, but sources say he was spotted “out on the lash” and eating “dodgy kebabs” in the early hours of Saturday morning. It’s unclear at this stage if Old Streets internal disciplinary committee (aka Judge Dred – Hamish Borno) will be called into action over this matter. The game also saw Old Streets latest addition to their fan base, a ceramic pig named Serenity, who looked on from the sideline with the calmness and stillness being promoted by her ‘father’, Borno.
The food poisoning incident led to a late call up for Ozzy Dave (who brought his fan club – lovely to see), and two positional switches, with Nick Price moving to No. 4 and Nick Barham moving up to openside flanker. Using the untried centre in the Andy Farrell role was possibly a risky move from the adventurous skipper Burley, who can‘t be said to be afraid to try new things in his quest to take the Onians to their goal of total rugby nirvana. The switch did raise some eyebrows within the Old Street ranks, and the jury is still out on the success, or otherwise, of the move.
The game kicked off, after a calming, yet inspirational rallying call from Streets club psychologist, Hamish Porno. Players were told to “close their eyes, feel the wind on their face, and see the white light”. Some players took this process seriously, while others, who shall remain nameless, were seen to be sniggering through this important pre-match preparation. Director of Rugby, David Bailey, said he was disappointed with this type of behaviour. “I’m disappointed with this type of behaviour” he said.
The Onians received the ball from the Watford kick, and went through some good phases, and when the ball went wide with some slick passing, it looked like Street would have the edge over the Watford backs. Moving up the field, Street got to within striking distance, and duly struck, with Roddy taking the three points when offered. This was the first of what should have been a string of penalties against the incessant off sides of the Watford players, but this didn’t materialise, due to some questionable refereeing from the Frenchman, Jean-Claude Le Merde. It started to go wrong for Roddy after the 3 points though, when returning a kick from the Watford full back on the left wing, he was just getting up to full pace when the right hamstring twinged. In a sensible decision, with an eye on next week’s game against the powerful Saracens, he was replaced by Tom Perry. “It’s a recurring injury from my uni days, I usually just play through pain, but I’m older and more sensible now”, said the Scottish hard man.
Old Street should have added to their lead later in the half, but a proliferation of knock-ons from normally reliable handlers killed a series of promising moves. The mistakes allowed a way in for Watford, who had some dangerous runners themselves, when they equalised with a penalty, which was the first of many that Street were to give away. However, a knock on from the Watford no.8 (a whining, whinging 12 year old girl, somehow stuck inside a big fat mans body) from the restart, gave Street a platform to attack. In spite of the continuing errors, Street did manage a score with about 5 minutes to go before half time. In a textbook backrow move, the ball was shifted seamlessly from 6 to 8 to 7, after Street had set up an attack on the oppo 22. Barham, with the aid of some curiously generous defending, just managed to extend his arm over the line to finish the move. The turnaround came, with Street 10-3 up, after Sam had taken over the kicking duties and slotted the conversion in front of the posts.
Opinions were aired at half time, with Sam reminding us that “the wind won’t win this game for us”. Indeed. The second half started well for Street, with Alex Webb causing chaos when chasing down the kick. Good jumping at a series of lineouts from Price and LeGood, belying their shortcomings in the height department, secured ball for Street. Street then pressured up the middle, causing Watford to give away a series of penalties. After some backchat, and another 10m being awarded by the ref, a critical decision needed to be made. The two options: i) take the easy 3 points, put daylight between the teams, and go on to win the game; or ii) run a nag ball against an organised defence, watch the move peter out, lose all momentum, and go on to draw the game. This is Old Street, so obviously option (ii) was taken without a second thought.
As the scrappy second half continued, Watford started to build the pressure, with their scrum proving a solid and destructive platform against the slightly underweight Old Street pack. This pressure was beginning to tell on both sides in different ways. Old Streets action man no.6 LeGood was caught slowing the ball down one too many times at the breakdown, and was binned, but this could equally have been any number of the forwards, who were undisciplined throughout. At about the same time, one of Watfords supporters was ‘sent off’ for some over-enthusiastic explanation of the rules to the referee.
Admirably, Street kept Watford out during this period with 14 men, and then for a further 15 minutes in the closing stages when their line was under siege. Twice Watford players were held up on the line, Street players showing commitment and technique in abundance. This was epitomised by superb last ditch flying tackles in the corners by Tom Perry and Nick Price. However, Street couldn’t hold on for ever, and with 5 minutes remaining, when a 5m scrum was heading for the line and disintegrating on the Old Street side, vice captain Tom Nicholson took the decisive action of kicking the ball from the Watford players hands. The refs (over) reaction was to give a penalty try (and thus an easy kick for the oppo), a yellow card to Nicholson, and a penalty to Watford from the re-start.
However, after the re-start, Street regained possession after a knock on, and had one last chance to steal the game. A penalty on half way, and another crucial decision after being told this was to be the last play: i) Work the phases up field to get to a position for a kickable penalty or a drop goal, and win the game, or ii) attempt a kick from 50m, on an angle, with gusty wind, that was never going over, and draw the game. Again, option (ii), in the infinite wisdom of the senior management team (all on the pitch at this point), was taken.
So, a draw, which, in the immediate aftermath, felt like a loss (especially to player/coach Bailey, who, through some questionable arithmetic, actually thought we had lost). All the Street players were disappointed, but had nobody to blame but themselves, as they gave themselves many mountains to climb by the sheer weight of penalties that were conceded. It’s fair to say that the ref didn’t help either; by allowing Watford so much leeway at the offside line, Old Street were prevented from playing their natural game. Bailey addressed LeMerde after the game, and informed him that “There’s not enough room on this report card to explain how terribly poor you were today”. However, feelings were kept under wraps as the ref, and the Watford players, joined the Old St ranks in the G&V for some lasagne, chips, and beer.
The Twat of the Match award went to captain Burley, for the curious decisions discussed above, while the Man of the Match (on a day lacking real contenders, and possibly as some sort of sympathy vote) went to Nick Barham (with Barham edging the pint race). All know that we’ll need to step up the performance, cut out the errors, and up the effort, for a tough game against Saracens (third in the table behind Old Street in second) next week.
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