Thetford II [Home]

Fixture Details

Date	Fixture	Competition	Kick Off	Venue
21-Nov-09	Thetford II	Friendly	13:15	Home

Match Report

Watton 57 - Thetford II 3

Watton, after a weeks rest from the Norfolk Merit League fixtures, emerged fired up for what was promising to be an extremely hard fixture against their local derby rivals. Watton go from strength to strength in their 25th year, putting out not just the first 15 but also their second string side away at Lowestoft & Yarmouth III. This week saw the welcome addition to their training regime of a scrummage machine, after years of making do, the club splashed out on what was the ex Welsh RFU national team unit, lets hope it rubs off on the side!
Kicking off with the slope and wind, Watton started what would prove to be one of their best performances so far this season. Within five minutes, a well collected ball from Bayley in the lineout, saw flyhalf Stone put his Captain Walker through and lay off the ball to a charging Stickland who grounded far right of the posts making the resulting conversion a testing one for the fullback Turnbull.
Thetford kept the pressure on but the home side’s defence held strongly. Watton played with conviction and pace, the returning Dan Horslen terrorising any Thetford defence at every opportunity. A further 5 minutes in, one of his trademark runs saw him stopped inside the Thetford 22, the close supporting Bayley popped the ball up into the hands of blindside flanker Graham-Park who cut through to score just left of the posts for the converted points 14-0.
Graham-Park on a roll, collected another 5 points seven minutes later, when the pressure on the Thetford scrum, saw the bobbling ball from their scrumhalf stolen by the young flanker for a third converted try.
The pressure didn’t let up for Thetford, Watton sensing they were struggling with the incline and the elements. The increased intensity and quality of the training from coach Moxham this season came to fruition on the half hour mark. The well worked penalty move saw Gilly rampage through any opposition for his debut try for the club after converting from football.
The Watton forwards dominated the open play and the work on the scrummage machine seemed to be a good omen, consistently pushing the Thetford pack off their own ball. This tactical advantage on the park gave the Watton backs the freedom to show some real flair. A well presented ball from scrumhalf Omer to Stone and a beautifully looping miss pass to Walker saw him punch through the defence to score just left of posts for the converted score 33-0.
The next points in the half were typical trademark Turnbull, collecting the ball well inside the Watton half, the jinking moves absolute poetry as he threaded himself through any opposition to score under the posts. Unbelievable skills!
The young football convert Gilly finding his feet and confidence, playing off Horslen, made a strong solo effort unaided, handing off the defence, scored for his second just left of the posts making the half time score 45-0.
Buoyed by the lead but now with the wind in their faces and slope against them, Watton had a second half to dogg out with Thetford. The visitors came back, scrummaging with more ferocity than the first half and pressing harder in their attacks on the Watton tryline. A tribute most go to them for not letting their heads drop at any time and making a real game of it.
The next points came for Watton after the long ball over to the Thetford fullback should have been safely cleared but the fumble saw the hungry Graham-Park again on it like a rash to theatrically score under the posts.
During the game there were an number of great individual performances, the young prop Eagle, scrummaging his heart out and outstanding in broken play, Gilly, Graham-Park and Stickland finding their confidence week by week, backed up by the experience of Moxham and the the rest of the established senior players.
The Watton defence stacked up all afternoon, the only way Thetford were able to breach it was a crafty consolation drop goal for the three points.
The last points were pure magic, solid play for the last time by the pack, second and third phase play drawing the opposition in. Playing the spun out ball Walker put Eagle through for a strong run at the defence, drawing his man, letting Stickland on for the next yardage and finally out to Phillips for his debut try for the team bringing the final score to 57-3.

Match report posted by Mike Bayley on 24 Nov 2009