Tadley had been planning Strategies for this fixture for several weeks, many chats over lemonade in there spiritual home the New Inn during their previous post match debriefings. So the team was in good spirits leading upto the big day, so confident in fact only 6 players felt it was necessary to go training Thursday night.
The day couldn’t have started much worse for skipper Dave Seal as he lost hooker Willy Boyd and stand by Mark Allan was in Northampton but said he would meet us there, when Tadley did finally set off in the bus a broken down car meant a detour to pick up full back Jack. A Sat Nav malfunction saw the bus arrive 30 mins before KO.
It was decided to give the usual 2nd team warm up a miss and use the 3rd team one instead- a ciggie by the side of the pitch, a stretch, 2 lineout’s, 1 run through and away we went. Mark Allan was just getting on the M4 so Luke Titley started at Hooker.
Henley started at a furious pace and its easy to see why they are doing so well, good support running from their forwards who off loaded well saw them attack the gain line. Tadleys line held well, thanks to some good team work and some bone crunching hits from Rudo, Simon Wightwick and Doug Hawker. Henley turned down a couple of kickable penalties in favour of the lineout but Tadley withheld the mauls. When the home side looked to use their backs the Tadley backlines aggression put them under pressure and forced errors. Paul Denning getting an interception, he was quite relieved when called back as a Tadley player had strayed off side, saving him a run from his own 22.
With 10 mins gone it looked like Tadley had weathered the storm but their clever 9 spotted a gap between 2 forwards around a ruck and was through to score an unconverted try.
Then the momentum of game began to change, Tadley gradually began to take control of possession, the lineout going well with Tucker and Boshier winning ball thanks to the excellent throwing from Titley and even though the scrum was shaky Tadley won enough ball to run some good moves, Hawker and Rudo getting over the gain line. Tadley really excelled in the loose play, turning over the home side in contact thanks to great work from flankers Wightwick and Randall this pressure created a couple of penalties, one hitting the post but they went into the break in good heart only 5-0 down.
Tadley continued where they left off, the back 3 of Waterworth, McMillan and Davies looking very lively countering kicks. A loose scrum was well tidied up by wightwick and the forwards went on a cracking rolling maul. From a set piece Raymond found a gap to go over and then convert Tadley deservedly took the lead. As the team celebrated Skipper Sealy was looking for a phone as part of the frantic search for Mark Allan he had arrived at the club, unfortunately the club he made it to was Tadley
This was the 1st time all season Henley have been behind in a game and their young side began to get rattled, Tadley were playing great rugby and when a home side prop was sin binned for a penalty offence which Raymond duly slotted over Tadley had a 10-5 lead. The game was for the taking but Henley showed the steely side to their game you need if you are going to win leagues. First they stopped Tadley scoring for the rest of the sin bin time and as the minutes ticked on, they came back into the game as the 3 weeks of having not played started to hit Tadley (Thanks for that Windsor!). Just before they were back to 15 another good run from the 9 and a great off load put a flanker in for a converted try and Henley had the lead again.
Now back to 15 and with the momentum they hammered Tadleys line, great defending kept them at bay, wightwick showing heroics to get Tadley out of their 22 and a chance to clear there lines but they were unceremoniously shunted off the scrum and the 8 was away after a few more drives the prop went over. 17-10.
With minutes to go Tadley gave it one last push Rudo and Raymond coming close but the home side closed out the game for a win. This was a cracking game of rugby that could have gone either way the home side’s better cohesion seeing them through in the end. This result sees Tadley drop to 3rd in the table but with 2nd place Hungerford visiting Red Lane this week Tadley will be hoping to bounce straight back and grab that 2nd spot.
Strutter of the match – Luke Titley
Tadley- Waterworth, Johnson (Davies 40), Denning, Hawker, McMillan Raymond, Seal©, Muphiano, Titley, Collins, Boshier(Churchill 65), Tucker, Wightwick,Randall, Van niekirk |
