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SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS V STOWMARKET - 26TH OCTOBER 2019
South Woodham Ferrers made it two in a row when they beat a
strong and well organised Stowmarket team in their London 2
North East clash. The wet and windy conditions were never going
to be help the teams produce their best, but both sides gave it
their all. Woodham took their chances well and took advantage of
the better conditions in the first 20 minutes to run out 20 to 7
winners.
From the kick-off Woodham made the best of the slightly better
conditions putting together a series of promising attacks to pile
pressure on the visitors. That pressure was to pay off when scrum
half Kieran Ballinger broke through a gap in the stretched defence
and raced for the line. Only a last-ditch tackle prevented him from
scoring but he was able to off load the ball to a flying Sevie Hurrell
who went over the line to score. Alex Baker converted.
More pressure from the home side paid off with a series of visits
deep into the Stowmarket 22 as the Woodham pack took control.
The pressure appeared to rattle the visitors as they fought to keep
Woodham out. A yellow card a high tackle was to prove to be the
defining moment of the game and Woodham took full advantage
of the extra man.
For the ten minutes of the sin bin Woodham piled on the gas and
hammered at the Stowmarket defence. They were rewarded with
a try for Kieran Ballinger, again converted and then a penalty taken
by Alex Baker. The ten points were decisive as the weather was
about to play its part.
Heavy rain made it difficult for both sides to play with any freedom
and it seemed that the only way forward was to keep it tight and
carry. Back to the full fifteen, Stowmarket seemed to cope better
with the conditions and enjoyed a period of ascendancy. Some
great defending and some handling errors saw opportunities go
begging and Woodham used to strong wind to clear their lines.
The visitors got their only score of the day when after being
camped in the Woodham 22 they finally manged to get the ball
over the whitewash for a try.
Halftime came with rain coming down in buckets but with the
home side on top, leading 17 points to 7.
The second half was no classic; possession ebbed and flowed
between the two sides and time after time attacks were snuffed
out by handling errors or silly infringements. Some of the illdiscipline
of earlier games crept back into Woodhams play and the
referee punished them with the sin binning of Sevie Hurrell.
Stowmarket probably had the better chances but could never quite
break the defence. Woodham always looked dangerous when they
got the ball in hand and were rewarded with the only score of the
half when a promising attack was halted by a Stowmarket
infringement. Alex Baker slotted the resulting penalty to end the
day with a ten-point haul.
Woodham will be pleased with the points and given the conditions
played well enough to deserve them.
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