CASTLE CARY 22 - 10 BRIDGWATER & ALBION ATHLETIC
Albion’s Dirt-Trackers have not performed since 12 December and sadly it showed amongst the rural delights at Castle Cary on Saturday. Albion were forced to make several changes – Ball was back after prolonged absence but Ward and Drabble were missing.
Albion had the advantage of the slope in the first half and immediately took the game to the opposition. Stukes almost immediately left the field with a blood injury and Hicks temporarily replaced him.
Although Albion had the better of the territory, they were conceding regular penalties to allow the home side to clear. In the tenth minute the Cary backs made their first progress but sound tackles by Rae and Grubb repelled them. Most of Albion’s kicking left a lot to be desired as it was misguided and invariably straight to an opposition player. Why teams at this level need to copy those of the professional mantle remains to be seen. Such kicks gave Cary leeway to make headway up the slope when they should have been dead and buried at the other end. In the eighteenth minute Cary almost broke the deadlock when a penalty hit the post and the scrum penalty which followed allowed Albion to relieve the pressure. Albion were being “encouraged” throughout by the vociferous Stanley but still the turgid play was not roused from oblivion. Coates made a half break and that secured a penalty just five metres out but after a lot of bumbling Albion’s forwards could not get over. Frustrated by their progress, Albion then attempted to kick a twenty metre penalty but to no avail. In the thirty-fourth minute Hobbs burst through and Frost almost weaved his way over. A penalty was awarded and Norman typically surged over from the tap to give Albion the lead. Only five points with the ground advantage – would it be enough? Almost immediately Cary came back in to the game when they kicked a penalty after Albion’s backs were palpably offside and half-time arrived with just a two point margin.
Immediately at the start of the second half Albion were on the defensive as Cary’s forwards piled in down the slope. Errors abounded on both sides. In the fiftieth minute Cary again missed a penalty. However Albion tried to clear the 22 drop out but the transmission of the ball between two players was intercepted and the Cary No. 8 gleefully dashed in to give his side the lead. Albion immediately hit back but again lost the ball in contact as Cary burst into their half. On the hour mark a speculative Cary kick out of defence bounced tantalisingly between Albion’s wing and full-back – neither claimed the ball sufficiently but the Cary wing had no hesitation in intervening and sprinted in for a try which this time was converted. Six minutes later Albion, not heeding their poor kicking performance, yielded the ball yet again and the Cary right wing ran in from sixty metres for a further goal. At last Albion picked up their game and resorted to their normally successful tactics with the forwards driving. After a series of penalties Norman again showed the inspiration to burst through the mass ranks of the Cary defence from another tap penalty to reduce the arrears. He almost got over again a few minutes later. The game ended with Albion milling around the Cary line but with no addition.
All in all a disappointing performance – the rustiness showed. However the main feature was that for once Albion’s pack was outdone by the bulky home eight who applied pressure in the scrums and there was the unusual feature of three scrums going against the put-in – two against Albion and one against Cary. The line-out was more of a lottery with both sides scrambling for possession. Albion’s kicking game however was the worst feature as they yielded possession too readily for an eager home defence to pounce. The spirited home side clearly deserved their victory and on this form could cause other opponents some problems. Albion now need to regroup for the home match against Minehead on Saturday, although their current closest rivals in the league lost again. There is still all to play for and Albion’s two defeats only still leave them at the top of the table.
Team: Taylor; Laing Grubb Willis Rae; Frost Coates; Hobbs Stukes Stanley Page-Symonds Worgan Walker Norman Ball. Reps: Used – Smith Hicks. Unused – Berry Moulding Pike Ruddle.
Tries: Norman (2)
H-T 5-3
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 February 2010 18:29 |
