St Ives vs. Brackley
This weekend saw St Ives travel to Brackley to face the current form team, sitting pretty at the top of the table. Due to injuries and illness, St Ives were forced to make many last minute changes to the original team sheet and ended up travelling with a very young side.
Despite this lack of experience, the St Ives team carried on battling for the whole 80 minutes, but unfortunately a strong, well drilled Brackley outfit were more than a match and were clinical in their attack. Three tries were scored in the first 10 minutes, leaving St Ives chasing the game from the off. This became a constant occurrence in the first half; with the majority of Brackley’s attacks resulting in a score and try as they might the St Ives team could not make an impression in the game.
First half score: 36 – 0.
The second half started of positively. St Ives began to hold their own in the scrums and provided the backs with some better ball. Unfortunately the Brackley defence held strong and St Ives were prone to kicking away possession in an attempt to break the gain line.
It didn’t take Brackley long to recommence the scoring, but still St Ives continued battling. There were positives to take from the game though. Congratulations need to go to the 4 first team debutants who played, Ollie Moorhouse, Dan Stewart, James Yeomans and Steve Brown – every one of them never backed down and continued fighting, Steve in particular playing tight head prop was enthusiastic to the end. But man of the match was awarded to Dan Stewart, playing at scrum half. His cool head at the back of a struggling St Ives scrum was constantly reassuring. Also the lineouts showed a marked improvement from previous weeks.
Despite this the game is still a loss and St Ives are still searching for their first win of the season.
Final Score: Brackley 58 – St Ives 0