A 'calamitous mistake'

Another late mistake and another defeat in another game we should have put out of sight before the calamitous mistake occurred. Ok we were missing some old heads in Bobby, Dunlop and Nails but we were up against a seriously depleted Police who were fielding only one of last year’s backs and he was
playing out of position. This loss has opened up a 4 point gap that we need to claw back this weekend when we face league leaders Mariners.

The game started with a rush of try scoring opportunities but unfortunately they seemed to fall on young Patrick who experienced a shocking first 15 minutes to the game. The first opportunity was by far the biggest crime and will cost Patrick a case of beer. After a nice run down the wing all Patrick had to do was dive to the floor to score the try but for some inexplicable reason he stayed on his feet having already crossed the try line and then got bundled out the deadball area. What a bloody Muppet!

Strangely the ref awarded a 5m lineout to Police but they overthrew it and the ball landed in Henry’s hands at the back. He dived over for an apparent score only for it to be disallowed as we had too many in the lineout. (A trick Police kept repeating for the entire 1st half before someone in red finally realized!)

To compound the BM’s annoyance Patrick then dropped a pass that hit him in the hands with a clear run to the line in front of him. It was painful watching. 3 tries gone begging in the first 10 minutes.

Thankfully our 4th chance of the opening quarter fell to Andre Landy and he made no mistake as he ran through 3 tacklers before scoring under the posts with Pup adding the extras.

From hero to zero

The 7 point lead didn’t last long unfortunately and Police were soon back in it when Lammies, their big 2nd Row, crashed through some Backs to score from close range. 7-5. Police then enjoyed a period of pressure but our defense led by the outstanding Big T was up to it though we did concede a penalty to go 7-8 behind. Undoubtedly the highlight of the first half was Church racing 40 meters down the field, ball in hand. Our big Rasta is in serious danger of getting a national team call up at Tighthead several years after retiring from the national backrow. Church just had one of those games when everything went right, he was like a magnet to the ball, even when lineouts went wrong somehow the ball ended up in his hands. It was a shame he would end up on the losing side.

The first half scoring had not yet finished. Shortly after Church’s exploits we were awarded a penalty close to the Police line which Dave Porter took quickly and dived over for a try (see the pic ) so we went into the break 12-8 up. It had been an eventful half and the boys were playing with a lot of spirit with the pack slowly getting the upper hand in the set piece.

The 2nd half did not start well though. Jerry who had returned to fill the gap at Fly Half was soon groggily walking off having received yet another blow to the head that left him dazed. Hopefully it’s not the end for Jerry..…because everyone likes to drink his beer and he is an easy target for the BM!

With Jerry off another reshuffle saw Porter go to 10 and Morrison at 9. Changes in key positions don’t help but despite more possession the Backs as a whole simply were not firing. Puppy and Andre were starved of ball and TRFC has to address this problem quickly so we don’t end up wasting the try scoring potential these youngsters have.

Anyway the 2nd half was not much of a spectacle, the big hits were going in but there were

Jerry - Would you like me to rub it?

no clean breaks apart from Harry who stumbled through a gap and could not quite finish it off. The score remained 12-8, we had an opportunity for a penalty kick but decided to run it, in hindsight it was probably a mistake but Captain Donal was at least trying to put us out of reach. Nothing came of it but the lost opportunity stung us in the ass when a poor pass to Puppy in midfield went to ground (see other photo below) and the Police centre scooped up the ball to run half the length of the field to score under the posts with about 5 minutes left on the clock.

In the last desperate moments Harry then Tank were held up over the line but we couldn’t find that crucial score and we had to settle for a losing bonus point. Bollocks!! Two loses in our last two games with scores against us in the last 5 minutes, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

It’s imperative we get a good turnout at training, beat mariners and we right back in the race for the league. See you at training.