Tadley made five changes to the starting line up with Colin Summers, Toby Smith, Seth Roose, Gareth Cripps-Jones and Ed Smith coming in. Peter Rosier also returned on the bench. With stormy conditions hitting the South West, Tadley kicked off into the driven rain knowing that they would need to play the game a little tighter than normal and would have to pay particular attention to handling and ball retention in order to prevail.
Tadley got the better of the early exchanges with dominance of the scrum and of the contact area. Darren Staley in particular standing out with breaks from the base of the scrum. One of these breaks led to Tadley’s first opportunity with Staley getting over the line however in the challenge the ball was dislodged from his grasp. Fortunately for Tadley the ball went backwards and full back Cox was first to react and touch down in the corner.
Tadley maintained possession and territorial advantage but were unable to create opportunities primarily due strong defence by Oldfield and also the number of penalties conceded at the breakdown which slowed down the Tadley ball. The pressure continued and once again Number 8 Staley made the break and this time he managed to finish the job and score Tadley’s second try which was converted by Dennison.
Towards the end of the first half Oldfield started to use the wind a bit more and pressure Tadley with a series of tactical kicks. Both lineouts were left with very few options due to the poor weather conditions and a number of lineout turnovers occurred. Tadley found themselves on their own five metre line. Under pressure from the Oldfield lineout captain Rob Murray failed to secure the ball which fell into the hands of the grateful Oldfield hooker who finished his opportunity. With half time fast approaching the referees patience finally ran out with Oldfield’s indiscipline and the Oldfield number 8 was send to the sin bin. Tadley went into halftime 12-5 ahead.
Tadley started the second half by sensibly using the wind to dominate territory. Tadley kept the pressure on with notable breaks from winger Toby Smith and very strong running from openside and man of the match Seth Roose Oldfield continue to concede penalties and skipper Murray opted to keep the score board ticking over with four penalties from the boot of Dennison who continued his impressive kicking form so far this season.
Tadley were able to finish on a high when a scrum led to Andy Williams crossing the whitewash to seal the victory. The try was converted by Dennison. Tadley can look back on the game with a great deal of satisfaction. Despite a number of changes to the starting 15 Tadley were able to quickly get into their stride. Tadley were strong in defence, disciplined and retained the ball well. With a weekend off next week Tadley must look to the next four fixtures before Christmas and look for more consistency in performance in order to achieve the wins required to climb the table.
Tadley:-Clifford, Godfrey, Lowe, Summers (Rosier), Murray©, Grierson, Staley, Roose, Bailey, Dennison, T Smith, Williams, E Smith, Cripps-Jones, Cox |
