1st XV Match report - 18th March 2023

David Daniels 1st XV Manager

Match report - 18th March 2023

Long Eaton RFC 35 pts v Sutton Coldfield RFC 12 pts

Regional 2 North Midlands

Last weekend saw Sutton 1st XV complete their final league game of the 2022/23 - R2NM season when they traveled into Derbyshire to face second place Long Eaton and with Sutton sitting in third place in a tight top half of the table grouping it promised to be a keen contest but although Sutton won the home leg 36-26 back in October 2022, unfortunately the talented Sutton side did not take their 'A' game to the West Park venue and although Sutton made a decent start the home side were quick off the mark scoring a converted try to lead 7-0 after just 3 minutes to boost their belief and although Sutton responded well with an unconverted try on 16 minutes to trail 7-5, basic errors crept into the Sutton game at crucial times with missed tackles, missed touch kicks and missed chances costing them possession and territory allowing their hosts to stretch their lead to 14-5 going into the break. In spite of Sutton picking up their game early in the second half to close to 14-12 after 9 minutes of play, in the long run Long Eaton proved to have the stronger game as they ran in 3 more converted tries to close out a 35-12 victory.

Sutton kicked off in light rain with wet grass and pale sunshine, and the visitors applied early pressure in the Long Eaton 22 but to no avail and on 3 minutes Long Eaton broke out of the Sutton grip with a missed tackle freeing up the Long Eaton right wing Harvey Doleman, who raced 40 metres down his wing before cutting in field to make the conversion easier for fullback Louis Kendrick, who landed the kick to give the host club an early 7-0 lead. The score was against the run of play and following the restart Sutton continued to press in the Long Eaton 22 winning a kick-able penalty in front of the posts but instead of going for the points, the visitors decided to go for the attacking option and they kicked to the corner. Unfortunately, in what became typical of their day, in striving for the extra yards the ball was kicked dead and handed back to Long Eaton for a drop-out, with the immediate chance lost. But Sutton continued to create chances and they came close again when running the ball from right to left across the face of the Eaton posts but a miss judged pass was dropped and another chance of exploiting an overlap bit the dust.

However, in spite of their lapses Sutton continued to play attacking rugby and finally their efforts were rewarded when they won a line-out on their left wing midway into the Eaton half and the ball was fed right, taken into the 22 before a deft chip through the defensive line sent the ball bouncing towards the try line on the right flank. The bounce evaded the Long Eaton defenders and in a tight scramble Sutton's right wing Will MItchell managed to control the ball and touch down to claim the try. The difficult conversion from the right touchline drifted just outside the near post and the conversion was missed but Sutton had closed to 7-5 with 16 minutes played and were very much in the game! and more chances came their way following the restart with scrum half Tom Harris making a superb break on the halfway line in centre field, before passing to Sutton's lively hooker Curtis Wellington in the Long Eaton 22, who took the ball to the line before being stopped short but Sutton recycled the ball quickly and sent it left across the face of the posts to exploit an overlap on the left wing, however, a speculative long miss pass was miss-directed and was tapped into touch to end another promising attack, which on another day would have reaped 5 or 7 points but not this day and in spite of the Sutton chances it was the home side, who extended their lead on 35 minutes, when Long Eaton set up a flowing attack moving left to right across the Sutton 22, receiving the ball outside centre Del Veenendial stepped inside to find a gap in the Sutton defensive line to score to the left of the posts and fullback Louis Kendrick landed the conversion to extend the lead to 14-5, which carried through to the halftime break.

Undeterred Sutton started the second half with renewed vigour and again they created chances then with 9 minutes played, when Eaton were penalized for off-side in front of their posts Sutton's prodigious fullback Matt Smith took a quick tap penalty and weaved his way to the line before converting his own try to bring Sutton right back into the game at 14-12 with 31 minutes left to play; but unfortunately that was as good as it got for Sutton as the home side took over the scoreboard for what remained of the game, scoring 3 more converted tries.

The first of the trio of tries came midway through the second half, when no 8 Lewis Michael Giddings was driven over following an attacking line out on their left wing, then with 2 minutes left to play replacement wing Ben Milton went over for the bonus point try on the left wing and to drive the final nail in the Sutton box, as Sutton set up a counter attack running the ball out from their own 22 they lost the ball in mid-field on the halfway line and Long Eaton gathered the ball to send winger Harvey Lewis racing into the right corner for a fifth converted try and a final score line of 35-12, with fullback Louis Kendrick converting 5 out of 5 tries; to put the score in context, 14 of the opposition points were conceded in the final 2 minutes, when Sutton were down to 14 players after a yellow card.

In spite of the loss and the disappointment inflicted as the other results from the final day went against Sutton, dropping them from third place in the league at the start play to fifth when all the results were finalized; it should be noted that through-out the season Sutton had been in the top four i.e. second, third or fourth in 16 league tables and five or sixth in 6 of the 22 tables produced.

Something to be celebrated and also something else to celebrate was the achievement of T J Allwood, who played his fiftieth game for Sutton 1st XV last Saturday, showing his tenacity and commitment to the Sutton cause in every game - well done T J, every game a cracker!

That was the final game of the League Season for Sutton but the club have entered the Papa John end of season Community Cup competition, which is a knockout competition between teams at each level of the league structure with the finals played at Twickenham in May - the level 6 fixtures will be drawn on Monday 20th March and announced on Tuesday 21st March, so watch this space or the RFU Website for further details.

End of season summary:

At the start of the final round of games league leaders Leek were well ahead of the pack on 84 points and were League Champions elect, with Long Eaton in a secure second place on 76 points but Sutton were in a tight group in third place on 66 points with Melbourne 1 point behind on 65 points and Moseley Oak 1 point behind them in fifth place on 64 points.

In the event and to all intent & purposes on a fateful final day of the season, Belgrave had to forfeit their game against Moseley Oak because they had no front row available gifting Moseley a 5 point victory taking them into third place on 69 points and with Melbourne losing to Leek but gaining 2 bonus points in the process they moved above Sutton into fourth place on 67 points, with Sutton dropping to fifth place on 66 points after their loss to Long Eaton, 1 point above Newark on 65 points in sixth place.

The above summary sets out the top half of the table placing Sutton fifth in the final placings, which is unfortunate as Sutton were placed second, third or fourth in 16 of the 22 league tables produced though-out the season and fifth/sixth in just 6 of the league tables.

Overall a big improvement over previous seasons when Sutton had to produce winning results to avoid relegation in the second half of the season, this season we did all the good work in the first half of the season.

On reflection a slightly disappointing end to the season in the final league placings after a season which had started so well with Sutton having won 10 of the first 14 games plus 1 draw and 3 losses to sit in second place the second week in January 2023, only to lose 6 of the last 8 games drawing 1 and winning 1 to drop them down the table, all compounded by the strange results on the last day of the season which put Sutton down to fifth place as confirmed earlier but all in all a good season giving hope for even better things to come as the team settle into a commanding unit capable of taking on all comers in the years to come.

It only remains to thank all the committed players, who turned out on a regular basis and gave their all to the Sutton cause and their coaches, initially led by head coach Nathan Burchell, who stepped down due to family reasons towards the end of the season leaving Sandy O'Hare and Gregg Henderson to guide the team through the remaining games. Thanks also go to the team's support staff including physios, Rachael and Kacper plus the ground staff and clubhouse team now led by Facilities Manager Emma Ord and club Chef Lisa Middleton, who has produced nutritious food for both teams after all the home matches, men & ladies, Colts & Casuals plus hot food to warm the souls after training each Tuesday night through the season - well done all.

A big thank you goes to everyone, especially Del Green, who has been Honorary Club President for the past 4 seasons and has presided over all the significant events over the period including the various highly successful 100 year Centenary Celebrations, which were carried out over the 2021/22 season...But the biggest thank you goes to the Green Army of loyal Sutton Supporters, who have enjoyed the good times and carried the team through the difficult times in a season to remember!!

Have a great Summer and see you all next season - but watch out for notices regarding the Papa John Community Cup games in the March/April/May period.

All support needed and most welcome.

Thanks & best wishes,

David

David Daniels
SCRFC 1st XV Team Manager.