Reeds Secure Hard Fought First Win of the Season

REGIONAL 2 SOUTH EAST

REEDS WEYBRIDGE 29, BATTERSEA IRONSIDES 26

A huge crowd down at Whiteley Village last Saturday were keen to see their heroes fire the ball around the park and clock up the points, and during the first quarter they were not disappointed. Reeds took advantage of the slope and the possession, until the Ironsides ran out of defenders and Lewis Jones the lock forward, crashed over for the first points from a cheeky half break by scrum half Ollie Palmer. Pete Cole collected the extras and his successful kicking from all over the park was to prove to be the key factor in Reeds narrow victory. Reeds were dominating the territory and possession and quick hands firing the ball out wide from several forward drives with Lennan Day to the fore, allowed Will Jones the quick winger, plenty of space to dot down by the flag. Cole banged over the conversion from distance and Ironsides were two tries adrift in the first quarter at 14 – 0. But, although Reeds were a couple of tries in front, they had been hard earned points against an aggressive side which defended well and forced Reeds to spin the ball out wide to collect the points. Those big Ironside forwards however started to produce quality ball and it was Reeds who in the second quarter struggled to retain their composure giving away multiple penalties resulting in Reeds being locked into defence. One or two clearing kicks did not reach touch and that gave the Ironsides the chance to run the possession back at Reeds, a forward rumble close to the posts and Ironsides collected a seven pointer and were back into the game at 14 – 7. In a change of fortunes, Ironsides were in charge, winning quality possession from the lineouts and the tight scrums and that allowed them to set up camp in the red zone. A series of drives for the line and a score seemed a certainty, however, a floated pass to the Ironsides backs was poached by Pete Cole and he ran the length of the field to touch down under the sticks. It had looked certain, that the visitors were going to be on level terms at the change round, but instead in a hammer blow to them, Reeds were two tries to the good at 21 – 7. It was a pivotal moment of the game, but now Reeds had to face the slope and an Ironside pack that was winning plenty of ball, that allowed them to attack from deep in Reeds territory, Reeds lost a man to the bin in the desperate defence, the big Ironside forwards set up an unstoppable rumble and drove over for another seven pointer to bring the score to 21 – 14. But in the open play, Reeds were looking sharp and decisive, it was in that battleground, that young Josh Clark the centre earned his Man of the Match award, his sense of timing, distribution skills and solid tackling were at the heart of Reeds subsequent win. Reeds didn’t have too many opportunities in that second half, but it was a pin point accurate cross field kick from Clark, arising from a ‘’free-play’’, that was collected by Matt Stevenson. His mazy run took him close to the try line and skipper Herbie Finn was in support to make the hard yards over the line from a quick offload, for a five pointer and a twelve-point lead at 26 – 14. Fifteen minutes left on the clock and enough time for the Ironsides to rescue the game, they dominated the territory, Reeds were locked into the red zone, Ironsides touched down by the flag and slotted a difficult conversion to reduce Reeds lead to just five points with three minutes to go, the result was on a knife edge. The clock was running down when Reeds won a midfield penalty and it was a nerveless kick from Pete Cole that gave Reeds a crucial eight-point lead at 29 – 21 with a minute left on the clock. Four or five minutes later, with the match timing seemingly gone awry, Ironsides came back with a try in the corner following another soft yellow card infringement. Whilst it was too late to change the result, the 29 -26 final score gave Battersea a consolation prize in the form of two losing bonus points.

Nigel Connell, Reeds Weybridge Director of rugby was full of praise for the team performance, he commented ‘Herbie Finn and the team, secured a bonus point win against Ironsides, one of the best sides in the league, who so nearly won promotion last season’ whilst also remarking that Reeds indiscipline had made the game harder to win than it needed to be.

Man of the Match: Josh Clark

Team: Lennon Day (Vice Captain) / Leon Champion / Harry Ring / Herbie Finn (Captain) / Lewis Jones / Chuggs Wallis / Michael Wasko / Alex Corner / Ollie Palmer / Jack Jesty / Will Jones / Josh Clark / Matt Stevenson / Marcus Clark / Pete Cole. Bench: Zac Smith / Ben Ewington / Ollie Maitland / Ben Sherry.

Next week Reeds Weybridge are away to their local rivals Old Tiffinians who have won both their opening games. KO 3:00pm