St Ives Old Bulls vs. Westwood – 16th October 2004
Old Bulls 28 Westwood 0
The Old Bulls entertained a mixed Westwood side this weekend with neither their first or second teams having a fixture.
St Ives won the toss and elected to play up the slope and against the wind in the first half.
It took the Old Bulls seven minutes to get the first points on the board with a penalty after some excellent phase play by the forwards, culminating in Graeme Napper being held up over the line and Westwood giving away a penalty for offside from the resulting scrum.
The Old Bulls dominated the scrums throughout the game and eventually had to be instructed to hold their drives by the referee in the interest of safety despite making three changes to the front row.
Openside flanker Quentin Williams scored next after linking up with the backs to finish off with some superb handling and he continued to patrol the midfield making some crucial tackles throughout the game.
The Old Bulls lineout functioned well with Colin Hall soaring high to take the ball and allowing scrumhalf Chris bacon to give quick ball to the backs.
One such play saw Jez Clarke waltz unopposed across the Westwood try line after several calls from the touchline by the St Ives supporters for him to be tackled.
Nigel Sweeney playing at outside centre finished off a great break through the midfield and scored in the corner and then followed with another after bullocking run by Jez Clarke allowed him to be on hand to finish the move with a try under the posts. Flyhalf Andy Frear has had better days with the boot failing to convert any of the tries.
The second half saw the Old Bulls having to make several changes through injury and only managed the one try by Nigel Sweeney after he scooped up a dropped pass by the Westwood Flyhalf and ran fully 60 metres to score under the posts.
The Old Bulls assisted Westwood in drowning their sorrows by providing a case of port and a selection of fine cheeses, and after an hour or so the result didn't seem to matter.
Next week The Old Bulls take on Peterborough Vets at "Fortress Fengate"!