What a difference a week makes! Pumas turned up early, got on with
warming up and generally had a confident feel to them. The pack looked
powerful and large but mobile and the three quarters slick.
From
the kick-off it was obvious that Verwood were going to try to put Pumas
off their game by trying to disrupt the ball, force the turnovers and
get possession to their backs. Our heroes began by taking control of
the forward game very quickly and from this point did not look back,
winning nearly every single scrum and lineout. The running game and
passing out of tackle to on-coming support saw an improvement and the
backs started to get some good qualilty phases together.
The
first try came from a lineout, which was won and then Mike Parker took
the ball on in the centres only to be tackled and off-loaded to the
ever-present Thomas O' look at me dance Grady, who surged towards the
Verwood line; the ensuing ruck saw the dashing number eight pick and go
for a simple drive over try by the posts which was then converted.
Pumas
then carried on pushing Verwood all over the park until a series of
rucks by the Verwood line lead to one of the moments of the game, the
strapping centre Gary, hurtling through the Verwood opposition and over
the line only to have the ball knocked out of his hand by a small
Verwood forward who apparently (and Gary swears this is true) hitched a
lift on Gary from the 5 metre line! A penalty by golden balls and the
half ended.
Half-Time and Pumas were 10-0 up and looking strong
both in the pack and the three-quarters. At this point the oppositions
only point of attack seems to have been from the quick tap-penalties.
Into the second half and Steve Collins scored an excellent try which
was converted and put Pumas at a comfortable 17-0. At some point
Verwood got a penalty through the sticks but yours truly cannot quite
remember when.
What followed at this point is hard to mention on
these hallowed pages, our heroic captain having just scored a try and
endeavouring to put the ball into touch on the Verwood line where we
would have managed to get another 5 points, puts the ball dead, if he
does it again chair him!
Pumas really should have put more
points on the opposition at this point as we had total domination of
all set pieces and it is a credit to Verwood who managed to stem what
could have been a big score. The only points in the second half where
from the dashing number eight again who managed to take a front peel
ball off the line-out with one defender to beat. The defender was
side-stepped and the points scored in the corner pushing the score to
3-23. Pumas ended the game by hammering the Verwood line but to no
avail; a bit naievely perhaps as the three-quarters would probably have
been a better option at this point.
Overall, a good performance
from the lads whth confidence increasing all the time. The only
criticism being that we need to finish teams off in the when we are
ahead and remove the blinkers to release the backs even if we are in
total control.Fitness is still an issue so get to training and thursday
nights as well if you can make it. Social rugby rocks!