Match report - 13th Jan 2017

David Daniels
SCRFC 1st XV Team Manager

Match report - 13th Jan 2017

Sutton Coldfield 39 pts v Moseley Oak 33 pts

Midlands 1 West

Friday night 13th Jan 2017 saw the start of a fabulous weekend of free-to-view rugby at the Roger Smoldon Memorial Ground, when Sutton 1st XV continued their climb up the league table with a third successive victory leaving them unbeaten in the second half of the season with three wins out of three as they beat a strong Moseley Oak side 39-33 in a pulsating contest under floodlights, moving Sutton up to 8th in the league table one place and 2 points behind their opponents, who had been in 6th place at the start of play.

In spite of the overnight snow, which threatened the game, by the evening the snow had gone and Sutton kicked off in dry firm conditions on a perfect pitch. The Sutton team sparkled under the floodlights in front of a large enthusiastic crowd, scoring 5 well worked tries, whilst the visitors Moseley Oak contributed to a highly entertaining contest with 4 tries and a predictable competitive performance.

Moseley Oak received the ball from the kick off and took play back into the Sutton half applying early pressure to put Sutton on the defensive with their opening onslaught and long ranging kicks. Clearly the visitors game plan was to overwhelm Sutton and repeat their performance from the first fixture, when they raced into an early lead and dominated the scoreboard to lead 36-0 at the break... and their efforts were rewarded when Sutton were caught off side allowing fullback Ollie Thomas to kick a 30 metre penalty for a 3-0 lead with 5 minutes played.

However, the resurgent Sutton side responded immediately when from the restart prop Sean (Fub) Harrison showed his remarkable agility and pace to gather the ball and race through the would be defenders before slipping the ball with the perfect pass to his supporting fullback Nathan Burchell, who swept past the remaining defenders to score under the posts for the first of a hat-trick of tries for Sutton's top try scorer.

Centre Alex White added the simple conversion and Sutton took a 7-3 lead after 6 minutes of play and then just two minutes later the two point scorers repeated the process when following the restart Alex White received the ball in midfield and setting off in attack the centre chipped his opponents, then running on he re-gathered the ball before passing to Nathan Burchell, who once again was running in support up the right wing to receive the perfect pass and the fullback turned on the afterburners to race in for his second try in as many minutes as he crossed to the right of the posts. Again Alex White added the well struck conversion to extend Sutton's lead to 14-3 with 8 minutes played.

Encouraged by the quick scores Sutton settled to their task and the Sutton 8 acquitted themselves well against the renowned Moseley pack holding them in the scrums and encouragingly driving them back on occasions...and with the lineouts going well and the back division looking sharp, Sutton and their supporters grew in confidence in what was turning out to be an excellent game of rugby.

With 15 minutes played Moseley conceded a penalty 35 metres from goal on the Sutton left and Alex White took the chance to stretch the Sutton lead to 17-3 but 5 minutes later Moseley won a penalty in midfield, which they kicked into the corner. From the resulting lineout the Moseley pack reclaimed the ball and powered towards the Sutton try line. Sutton stopped the drive but somehow centre Paul Cox peeled off and scored a try to the left of the Sutton posts. Fullback Ollie Thomas added the conversion and the visitors closed to 17-10 with 20 minutes to go to the break. Then inspired by closing the score line Moseley applied sustained pressure on the Sutton try line with successive 5 metre scrums, rucks and mauls before hooker James Weaver found a way through the Sutton defensive wall to score a deserved try, which Ollie Thomas converted to bring the score line to 17-17 with 10 minutes to play to the break.

Shocked by the sudden change to the score line but not deflated, Sutton stepped up their game once again and right wing Tom McNamee lifted the Sutton spirits with a typical break up the right wing scattering would be tacklers as he raced into the Moseley half, then cutting infield he laid-off the perfect inside pass to centre Alex White, who raced in for a superb try under the posts, with halftime 6 minutes away.

The centre converted his own try to restore Sutton's lead at 24-17 but one minute later Moseley reminded Sutton they were still in the contest with a second penalty for Ollie Thomas, when Sutton were caught offside in their 22, for a 24-20 score line but well into injury time at the end of an exhausting first half Sutton launched one final attack and Sutton's hardworking prop Chris Hanley, who was lurking without intent on the right wing, suddenly found the ball in his possession just metres from the opposition try line... but rather than panic the experienced player kept his wits and put his shoulder down driving for the try line to score an excellent try in the right corner, winning Sutton a try scoring bonus point and extending Sutton's lead to 29-17 at the break. What a hero!!

Although Sutton appeared to have snatched the initiative at the interval Moseley Oak came back strongly at the start of the second half and for the first 10 minutes of the second period the visitors threw everything they had at Sutton but Sutton held firm. However, Moseley kept the pressure on and Sutton conceded a series of penalties with which the visitors kept Sutton pinned in their own half and then 15 minutes into the second half Moseley made the break though when the visitors created an overlap and left wing Jack Richards raced into the corner for a well worked and deserved try. The difficult conversion drifted wide but Moseley closed to 29-25 to keep the pressure on Sutton with 25 minutes to play setting up a dramatic finale to a pulsating contest.

Midway through the second half of the compelling contest Sutton received a slight respite when Moseley were penalised 35 metres from goal in midfield and Alex White kicked his second penalty to give Sutton a little more breathing space at 32-25 with 20 minutes to play.

During this closing period Sutton showed their true strength of character as they faced a powerful and experienced Moseley Oak outfit intent on thwarting a Sutton victory but helped by the experience of forwards player/coach Alan Keylock in the pack and backs player/coach Alex White in the three-quarters, Sutton maintained their composure and took the game back to Moseley applying sustained pressure in their opponents 22 with successive scrums and driving attacks. First attacking the left corner and then spreading play to the right wing setting up a Sutton scrum 5 metres from the Moseley try line. Sutton secured the ball from the scrum and drove forward but as play drifted left scrum half Tom Harris saw half a gap and darted for the try line but with his way blocked he deftly slipped the ball to fullback Nathan Burchell, who dived over the try line to complete his hat-trick of brilliant tries taking his total of tries scored for Sutton 1st XV to 153, in a 12 year career.

Alex White added the conversion to bring the score up to 39-25, bringing his personal tally for the game up to 19 points with a try, 4 conversions and 2 penalties in a man-of-the-match performance for which he was up against hat-trick man Nathan Burchell and the whole team for an outstanding performance - the best of the season so far!

However, with 10 minutes left to play the game was not over and Moseley Oak were not done yet as the closing period of play proved.

To their credit Moseley Oak were determined to salvage something from the game and their cause was helped when under pressure on their own try line Sutton received a yellow card and the home side had to play out the remainder of the game with a 7 man pack.

Moseley kicked the resulting penalty into the corner on the left wing and a well executed catch and drive from the 5 metre lineout saw James Weaver claim the try for a score line of 39-30 with 3 minutes left to play securing a bonus point for a fourth try and then they closed to 39-33 with a final penalty by Ollie Thomas to claim a losing bonus point with the last kick of the game, when Sutton were caught off side in front of their posts.

Bolstered by the excellent win, this weekend Sutton travel to Newport, Shropshire to take on the league leaders who are unbeaten this season but all teams are beatable and who would bet against Sutton in their current form. KO 2.15pm

Other events at Sutton Coldfield RFC last weekend:

Saturday 14th Jan 2017:

Leicester Tigers Academy 48 pts v Bristol RFC Academy 10 pts

As a real coup for the Sutton club Leicester Tigers & Bristol Academies chose to take their game on the road to a wider audience and they selected Sutton as their ground of choice. The game was to be played on the New International pitch but as kick off was at midday and they wanted to video the game the match was played on the first XV pitch in front of the clubhouse, which has an excellent vantage point for videoing a game.

As may be expected the game was played at a fast pace with excellent skills and teamwork on display, to the delight of the many spectators who had gathered at the RSG, Walmley Road to witness what the best of youth rugby had to show.

Obviously spectators and supporters came from Leicester and Bristol respectively but also from the local rugby sporting community to enjoy an excellent exhibition of fine rugby.

On the day Leicester had the edge over their rivals from the South West winning by the handsome margin of 48-10 but Bristol made a game off it and both sides had talented players on display.

We at Sutton look forward to hosting further such games in the near future.

Lichfield 2nd XV 15 pts v SCRFC Development side15 pts

The Sutton second string travelled to old rivals Lichfield but frustratingly the young Sutton side were held to a dramatic 15 all draw in what proved to be a closer game than the overall Sutton performance deserved.

Sutton Coldfield 3rd XV 17 pts v Moseley Oak 2nd XV 25 pts:

With the Sutton 1st XV playing their game on Friday night and the visiting Academy teams opting to play in front of the clubhouse, Sutton's 3rd XV and their opponents Moseley Oak 2nd XV took centre stage on the New International pitch at the RSG and although Sutton held the lead at the break after a highly entertaining first half, the Sutton 3rd XV found the Moseley Oak 2nd XV just too strong in the second half losing an excellent game of social rugby by 25-17.

Sunday 15th Jan 2017:

Birmingham Exiles Women v Sutton Coldfield Women;

The Sutton Ladies team travelled over to Birmingham Exiles Ladies for their Women's competition on Sunday but the visitors had to travel without key players and although the host team lent Sutton some players the Exiles were just too strong on their home turf and Sutton suffered a rare defeat.

The Sutton team will be hoping for a better result next weekend when they should be back to full strength.

Walsall Colts v Sutton Colts;

Match postponed to be rearranged.