St Ives vs Wellingborough OGs – 20th November 2004
St Ives 22 OGs 51
St Ives played host to Wellingborough OG's in Saturdays League match at Somersham Road.
Despite the cold November afternoon, the first half proved to be an exciting encounter. Both teams looked confident in attack with both packs marauding round the park. The deadlock was eventually broken with a St Ives scrum on the OG's 5 metre line. No. 8 Steve Burke picked up from the base and popped to John Paxton, who only had to fall over the line to score. Nick Crane missed the conversion.
OG's countered, almost immediately, with a try to level the scores again. After several attacks from both sides including some good sniping play from John Paxton, and some bullocking runs from Richard German and Jim Lewsam, St Ives struck again. A chip through by James Cannon forced a chase between Dan Beaumont and the OG's fullback. Both dived for the ball, missed it, and left it for Mick Blanchard to dive on over the line. Unfortunately Nick Crane again missed the conversion.
Once again OG's struck quickly, and some poor tackling by both forwards and backs resulted in St Ives conceding 2 more tries before the break.
The second half proved a different match, the fitness of St Ives began to show. OG's enjoyed some strong periods of possession, and poor tackling by St Ives again allowed OG's to cross the line on a number of occasions.
St Ives next score was slightly more opportune. Nick Crane found himself in the right place to intercept on the OG's 22 and enjoyed a clear sprint to the line, John Paxton missed the conversion.
This seemed to spur a bit more life into St Ives. Some good runs from Pete Hammond and Matt Hazelwood brought St Ives into a good attacking position. John Paxton at the back of the ruck popped the ball to Mick Blanchard who burst onto the line at pace. He then found himself in unknown ground for a tight head, one on one with the fullback. Some fancy footwork and a neat little pop to the supporting Steve Burke allowed the play to continue. Burke returned the favour, popping the ball back inside to Mick who then had a clear run to the line.
Throughout the game St Ives looked close to scoring on many occasions, but unfortunately lacked the final killer blow.
Comments form Nick Crane, 1st Team Skipper
Some good spells throughout the game, particularly in the 1st half, fitness let us down but we should take the positives and use them to our advantage in our next game vs. Peterborough in the Hunts and Peterborough Cup.