Barks muted in draw with Saxons

This week it was Saxon’s turn to make the rainy journey down the A45 to Coventry. After numerous pitch inspections, and a very through search for ice from Andy Richmond, the ground was unfortunately declared playable. Following on from Sil’s bumper collection of props in the previous week, Saxons were back to normal, with a budget stock of 5 forwards. This lead to a four man banker line out, Andy Richmond in the pack, and possibly even Jim Roper at a ruck.

An unusually fired-up Saxons started very well with Brian Muriithi and Ben Lowe causing the opposition all sorts of problems with some very direct running. It was not long before Brian had stormed down the wing fended off a few men, and was over under the sticks. On what was to be a very good day for Second row kicking, AR slotted the conversion. Keen not to be out done Ben Lowe was soon down the same wing, and put in some more good work in the in-goal area to make the conversion kick as easy as possible. The 14 men Saxons were 14 nil up inside 20 minutes.

Barkers came back at Sils strongly on the turn of 20 minutes with a break from one of their lineouts leading to their ten heading directly at the posts. It was at this moment that Jim Roper put in a crunching tackle on the line, turned the ball over, and led to Sils exiting their half. Barkers were soon back on the attack in the Sils 22. After some high tackling, Josh Mallet was inspired by Henry Morris’s earlier kicking through the ruck, and was carded. This led to wave after wave of Barkers attack and a try. The resulting conversion was missed which led Sils going in at halftime 5-14 up.

Just after half time Saxons came out well and secured a very kickable penalty in front of the posts on the Barkers’ 22. With Andy Richmond limping, Jim Roper stepped up for a ping at the goal. Doubtless still thinking about his excellent rucking earlier in the game Jim fired the kick across the face of the posts, keeping Barkers in touch.

The next phase of the match was an endless series of scrums; this led to Barkers breaking down the wing with quick chip through. The Barkers wing was then chasing a bobbling ball for a certain try. At this moment Ben L decided he was bored with rugby, and put in his audition for the NFL. The referee frowned upon taking the man without the ball and a penalty try was awarded to take the score to 12-14. A flagging Saxons, then conceded another try to go behind for the first time in the match, at 19-14.

Saxons responded to this set back admirably putting together “3 phases” for the first time since Ben’s earlier try. A break from an admirably straight line out led to Saxons working their way into the Barkers’ 22. Alex Roper 'Waspy' took some quick ball from the base of the ruck to worm and squirm his way over the line. Sils then had some chances to win the match, the most notable of which was an interception from Laurence White. The resulting 40 meter break only ending with some un-fortunate crossing with Ben. The final scrum was taken by Barkers and spilled into touch, leading to a 19-19 draw. This was a very creditable result for 14 men, on the proverbial wet afternoon in Coventry.

19-19 (HT 0-14 )

Conversions Missed 1 vs 1 Not straight line outs (legitimate figures)
MOM –Brian, Honourable mentions - all of the 5 man pack
DOD - Ben Lowe, for his American Football tackle.

BY Henry Morris