SGHMS RFC 1st XV vs Surrey 1st XV
Date: 16/ 2/ 11
Venue: Imber Court,
Article written by chief sports correspondent Ian Gibbons
It was a pleasant, luminous, crisp Wednesday afternoon in East Molesely when the gladiators of St Georges took the field for this BUCS league clash at the fortress that is Imber court. Not a cloud in the sky with radiating sunshine on the players’ backs and a moist playing surface with distinct, incisive white lines provided the arena for the action. The mood in the dressing room beforehand was boisterous having overcome this team convincingly in the last two fixtures. A big result was a must with a monumental UH fixture just around the corner, and injured warriors and senior players gathered on the sidelines in expectation. However, every man knew that previous results counted for nothing once the referee blew for the game to commence. Georges had to stamp their authority on this game from the outset! No messing around this time!
And sure enough Georges did just that, taking the game by the scruff of the neck at the first opportunity, with Radon Reynolds scoring a scintillating try. Ollie Rupar, leading by example as always made a clever and forceful break and offloaded a pop pass in the tackle just outside the 22. A pumped up Radon came steaming in close on his left shoulder. A deft step or two then a rapid turn of pace set Reynolds free and with 4 or 5 desperate attempts to scrag him, he stayed strong to touch down between the posts to make it easy pickings for the kicker. A now niggle- free Dan Rossiter, actually spending a Wednesday afternoon playing rugby for once, stepped up to slot home the extra 2 points. I feel that his recovery may have something to do with Dan’s desires to shower alongside Ollie (“the vein” mark II) Cummin. However, maybe George’s thought that the game had been won already after opening up the enemy so early on and soon paid the price for some lackluster tackling and poor communication as Surrey made an instant repost to score beneath the posts. A penalty a few minutes later put surrey in to an unlikely and surprising lead.
This was the wake up call they needed as George’s burst in to life and started playing some of their top draw rugby. Putting the phases together neatly and efficiently, they wore down their opposition creating the gaps and opportunities for the flair of the team to excel. 3 tries followed in the first period with Rupar, Busby and Radon (for the second time) all touching down. The pack was starting to gain the upper hand and turnovers were becoming more numerous. Some quick thinking by Gibbons led to a Ben Youngs- esque break down the blindside where he drew the defender to put a rampaging Chris Crome in to space. Hitting a powerful line, he accelerated in to the 22 and offloaded to find captain Rupar. After fending off a few fierce and barely legal tackles, skip touched down beneath the sticks. Busbys’ first score started off in similar fashion with another Rupar break who found Adam Smith with a subtle offload. Flame raison by name, flame raison by nature he rocketed a good 20 metres before being brought down despairingly just short of the white line. The ruck was cleared out in clinical and military fashion. Chris Busby was then able to use ox like strength to pick the ball up unopposed and place it down just a foot further forward, still unopposed.
The fijis and tongas were working like clockwork and further success followed as Radon secured his brace. Arny took a fiji ball from inside our own half and literally ghosted past the defender who stood in front of him. He turned on the gas before offloading in the tackle at the opposition’s ten metre line. And there Radon cropped up again to take a pass on Arnys left shoulder. With the try line looking dauntingly far away he frantically looked for support but when he could see there was none coming he knew how to react. Cracking out the piston legs and hydraulic arm hand off he managed to make it but was given a savage dead leg by bitter opposition on touching down. Nothing the ice bath won’t sort out later mind you.
As the half drew to a close, Surrey were determined to prove they may be down but were not out just yet. Capitalizing on some uncharacteristic defensive frailties and perhaps an air of complacency they punished George’s to head in to the break with the final score.
Rupar’s half time team talk was fierce, furious and ferocious. There would be no slip ups this half. No air of complacency. No let up at all. It was in this half that the boys turned to men. The tackles turned in to smashes. The passes turned in to assists. And the surrey hopes of success turned in to ashes. As far as tries were concerned, the floodgates opened. Chris Busby, Steve Garvey, Chris Crome, Ned Tapley and Anthony all taking their share of the spoils. Anthony must be acknowledged for his commando style roll out of the tackle leading to his try. Chris Ashton has nothing on the flamboyancy that was witnessed here.
Chris Busby’s second try had slightly more to do with Chris Busby’s rugby abilities. As he had been doing all game, Gibbons shipped out another fiji ball to the lolloping Busby on the opponents 22 who took a line cutting back against the flow of play. Next, he threw an audacious dummy to break the first tackle, then slightly increased his pace from a lollop to a waddle, handed off the fullback, and scored. That’s two tries for him now. Cue the standard, age- old shit Busby banter.
Referee: “Lads. Shall we move this scrum in to a less cut- up part of the pitch?”
Busby: “There’s a nice patch of grass underneath their posts!” Was this joke ever funny?!
The moves were getting more and more extravagant and the forwards were becoming more and more dominating. The whole team were contributing and playing their part in fuelling the colossal George’s machine that was steam rolling the opposition.
The champagne rugby continued with the substitutes all coming on and making a big collective impact. The strength in depth of the Georges squad should hold them in good stead for the bigger prospects lurking just around the corner. A solid display overall against mediocre yet noble opponents. There were spells when the George’s A- game was on show and the intelligent lines, breaks and offloads were a joy to watch. But the men in green and gold know they have another gear to step up to when it comes to the ultimate hurdle of the 27th. 21 satisfied rugby players hit the showers at the end of the game for a good sing-along followed by pie and chips whilst Radon went home for an ice bath.
FINAL SCORE
St George’s 55- 17 Surrey