Match Reports

Rugeley 2nds 0 v 24 Longton Vets

Longton Vets maintained their 100% winning record against a Rugeley side where the oldest starting player was 30 years of age!

Belying their advanced years, Longton dominated all aspects of the game, and would surely have achieved a 50-point victory had some of the refereeing decisions been more favourable towards them.

Longton's first score came within minutes of the start.  From the kick-off, Longton were able to gain possession of the ball taking it into the Rugeley half where the backs spread it wide to Sean O'Neill on the left wing.  Taking the ball into contact, Longton won a scrum when the referree decided that the ball was unplayable in the resulting ruck.

From the scrum, the huge Longton pack easily secured their own ball and it was spread through the backs to Vets debutant, Chris Wainwright, at Outside Centre, who dummied to pass outside and then cut back in for the first try.  The conversion was missed. 0-5.

With a score after just minutes on the clock, Longton clearly thought this was going to be an easy win and took the game far too lightly for the next 20 minutes.  This allowed Rugeley to start to give as good as they were getting.  They responded well, particularly through their fly-half who made several good breaks into the Longton areas.  Rugeley also attempted to gain ground by kicking forward whenever possible, but their attacks were snuffed out by another Vets debutant, Craig Blurton, playing full-back.

Mid-way through the half, a Longton break saw the ball pass through several hands before finally finding prop Dave Wilshaw standing out on the right wing.  From 15 metres out Dave charged over the line with a couple of Rugeley defenders giving it their all, unsuccessfully, to hold him back.  With another missed conversion the score stayed at 0-10 through to the end of the half.

The second half was a mirror of the first, with Longton dominating but failing to capitalise upon all the possession that they were winning, and Rugeley infringing, almost unpenalised, at will. The cold, damp conditions started to take their toll on the older Longton players with several having to leave the field at least temporarily for treatment - including influential Captain on-the-day, GT, who had orchestrated play magnificently from the Longton second row. 

But, Longton were able to maintain their pressure on Rugeley and achieved their next try through a backs move that resulted in another Vets debutant, Inside Centre Rick Christopherson, skipping his way through several would-be Rugeley tacklers to the try-line from their 22.  With Graeme Wilson securing the conversion the score was brought to 0-17.

Longton's final try saw another ball secured by the forwards resulting in a fine run by the backs, which was capitalised upon by Chris Wainwright for his second score of the day.  With Graeme slotting over the conversion the final score was 0-24.

The Vets now have Xmas off before their next fixture, which is scheduled to be Away to Birmingham Barbarians on 9th January 2010.  Although, with the opponents having cried off the reverse fixture earlier in the season, it may well mean another foray into the Fixtures Pool for the Vets in the New Year.

AC