St Ives vs. Wellingborough OG's
Saturday saw St Ives travel away to Wellingborough to face the OG's in the next round of the league competition. St Ives were going into the game after a 2 week break but were confident that they could walk away with the 2 points. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.
The game started well enough with St Ives enjoying the majority of possession and territory, launching continuous attacks against the OG's line probing for the gap that would allow the quick backline in to score. It was a case of pushing too hard though, as the ball didn't go St Ives' way, either through loose passing or knock on, the visiting side were unable to deal the finishing blow. The deadlock was eventually broken midway through the half. The St Ives scrum, dominant as ever, stole one against the head. The ball found its way to Mike Sykes, who alert as ever, spotted the gap in behind the home sides defence. A deft chip through found Marc Sands on hand to score out wide for St Ives' first points. Jack Blackley was unsuccessful with the conversion attempt.
That was all for the first half's points tally, with OG's struggling to form any successful attacks and St Ives similarly unable to close out their attacking options. Half time score OG's 0 - St Ives 5.
The second half was a messy affair for the visiting side. It was a case of indiscipline and poor decision making that hampered St Ives' attempts to increase their lead. Too often were the forwards caught offside at the ruck, or coming in at the side. This allowed Wellingborough to relieve the pressure and clear their lines; in fact it was Wellingborough that took the lead. The penalty count from St Ives continued and eventually Wellingborough had a couple in front of the posts. These were successfully converted and took the score line to 6-5 in the home sides favour. OG's were quick to strike again, a probing kick found its way into the St Ives 22 which was collected by John Paxton. Paxton was unfortunate to slip midway through his clearance attempt and sliced the ball out wide. The Wellingborough winger was on hand and had a clear run in to the corner to put OG's ahead 11-5.
This poor run of luck seemed like a sucker punch to St Ives, who struggled from then on to maintain any serious form of pressure. It wasn't until the last 5 minutes that the visitors realised that the points were at stake. In this final period, St Ives finally showed what they were capable of and began to look like the side from earlier in the season. Some clever back play found John Paxton out wide who took his chance and scored on the left. The conversion attempt was too much for Blackley though and the game was poised at 11-10 with 3 minutes to play. St Ives immediately went on the offensive once more, some good rucking and offloading from the forwards finding their way deep into enemy territory, but it was too little too late for the visitors.
Final Score Wellingborough OG's 11 - St Ives 10.
Speaking after the game Ross Thompson was clearly annoyed at the game. This is a real sucker for us, the blame can't be placed on anyone but the performance was way below par. A 2 week break has done little to help us but with the start of the 6 nations it is always a difficult time of year to find fixtures. Hopefully this result will not hamper our attempts to remain in East Midlands 5.