St Ives 1XV vs Coventry Welsh
St Ives travelled to Coventry to face Coventry Welsh in the second round of the EDF Energy Junior Vase this past Saturday. The day started badly for St Ives with 2 props unavailable at the 11th hour due to illnesses/indisposed, this lead to Ross Thompson starting the game at tight head in a re-juggle of the pack.
Despite the sudden changes St Ives started well and had Coventry Welsh under pressure for the majority of the first half. Despite this superiority of possession and territory, St Ives could only score once through Marc Sands, who crossed the line out wide thanks to some good support play throughout the 15. Jack Blackley was successful with the conversion.
Going into the second half, the team knew that 7 points would not be enough to secure the victory as one mistake would bring Coventry level. This was almost the case immediately after the restart, with the ball appearing out wide for Coventry, only for Dave Williams to provide a last minute covering tackle to put the winger out over the dead ball line. It was thought that this would waken St Ives, but Coventry kept turning the screw. They were eventually rewarded with the ball going out wide again, and despite the covering tackle taking the winger across the flag, the referee judged that the try was good. The match then went into a stalemate situation with St Ives leading 7 points to 5, with neither side able to break the deadlock.
This lasted until the last 10 minutes, with St Ives scoring a penalty through Jack Blackley to bring the score to 10-5. Immediately after the restart St Ives were penalised out wide. Coventry were successful with the points and were awarded another kickable penalty minutes later. This again was good and took the score to 11-10 in their favour.
St Ives then launched an offensive on the Coventry Welsh line but try as they might, they could not break through and were penalised once again in their own half. The Coventry Welsh kicker was again successful and gave the home team some daylight at 14-10. This provided a thrilling last couple of minutes, with St Ives peppering the line with some scything attacks, but the Coventry Welsh defence held firm. One final drive into St Ives' territory by the Coventry Pack allowed their fly half a chance of a drop goal, which crept agonisingly over the bar to finish the game at 17-10.