Jimbo
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Hadleigh 20 Haverhill 25 - write up1. Ben Jackson
2. Paul Bergin
3. Aaron White
4. Kevin Carr
5. Chris Flannery
6. David Golding
7. Brodi Patrick
8. Kieron McDonagh
9. Simon Lester
10. Jake Plumbridge
11. Andy Chatham (Joe Brown)
12. Michael Lansdowne
13. Adam Hunt
14. Sami M’Barki
15. Aaron Carr
Hadleigh 20 Haverhill 25
Hunt Hat-trick Seals it for Haverhill.
A changed front row and some inspired changes in the three quarter line led to a game that could have had Haverhill 30 points ahead of Hadleigh.
With Ben Jackson and Aaron White propping and Captain Bergin Hooking, it gave the Haverhill scrum the platform for an impressive display in the pack, with Dave Golding and Brodi Patrick dominating the line-out, taking much ball off of Hadleigh with huge and fearless jumping in the line. This was backed up by the lynch pin position of scrum half being bossed extremely well by Simon Lester.
Haverhill pressurised the Hadleigh line from the off, but a missed tackle led to Haverhill being pressurised, but an unnecessary kick by the Hadleigh player when he had his winger to the outside let Haverhill off. However, the 22M drop out led to Hadleigh driving through under the posts for a converted try on 7 minutes. 7-0
Having watched many games this season, this would normally have led to the heads going down, but Haverhill came back, camping in the Hadleigh half, until an infringement by Hadleigh gave Jake Plumbridge the opportunity to get Haverhill on the board on 10 minutes. 7-3
One rule in Rugby is NEVER let the ball bounce from the restart, and Haverhill broke this rule. The resultant scrum led to an infringement by Haverhill and Hadleigh were 10-3 up on 12 minutes.
Haverhill were playing great rugby, with some good work between Plumbridge, Michael Landsdowne and Adam Hunt that was not picked up by Hadleigh, leading to Hunt scoring in the corner. A great kick from Plumbridge made the score 10-10 on 25 minutes.
Again Haverhill did not do the restart well, dropping the ball from the catch. Hadleigh picked up the ball and drove to the line, only to drop the ball over the line and drop on it. To everyone’s surprise the referee awarded the try instead of the scrum for the knock on. Hadleigh players were embarrassed, but still took the seven points for 17-10 on 27 minutes. Haverhill came back and did not let this trouble their game.
Again the move in the three’s led Hunt to slip off 3 tackles to score in the corner, this time missed by Plumbridge for 17-15 on 32 minutes.
Haverhill took the lead with a Plumbridge penalty on 38 minutes, but infringed just on the whistle to go to the turn 2 points down 20-18.
The first 20 minutes of the second half was Haverhill’s with Hadleigh really not pressurising. On 5 minutes, on about the 6th phase in the move, Hunt crossed the line for his third try and another conversion for Plumbridge to make it 20-25.
Haverhill continued to pressurise, camping on the try line on four further occasions, only to just not score.
The whole team worked as one, putting in huge tackles. Sami M’Bark, the smallest player on the park, tackled the Hadleigh second row mountain, dumping him to the ground very unceremoniously.
Haverhill must learn not to kick unnecessarily, particularly forwards hoofing the ball for no reason, putting the team under pressure, but finally, again on the Hadleigh line Haverhill got the whistle and win they rightly deserved.
Echo Man Of Match – Simon Lester
Jim Morgan Hadleigh, Darkest Suffolk.
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