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News
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EDF Junior Vase
Semi Final
Today saw
The side was mainly unchanged with the only notable exception being Captain Mark Longworth who was away skiing in
If there were any fears that Longworth’s influence was to be missed they were dispelled from the first play of the day where from the kick off ‘Veal’ Horrocks chased down the kick to be impeded by the fly half with the resultant penalty in front of the posts posing no problem for Millar’s trust boot.
With Phoenix laying down the initial impetus and penetrating the Londoner’s 22 it was to their dismay that the strong Chiswick defence turned the ball over spun the ball wide to the winger who nudged on down the right and chip over, with Skipper Elliot dropping on the ball he was pinned down which resulted in a penalty front of sticks duly slotted 3-3.
On the day it was the home side who showed more invention and pressured the visitors half, but the visitors defence was rock solid and despite numerous assaults it hed firm, with the only result another Millar penalty 6-3
Maintaining the impetus
Phoenix now ‘rising’ maintained the impetus and attacked again and came close with a forward-back interplay that again saw the line beckoning only to be hauled down and lose the chance, which is how the score remained to the interval.
On the turn round
For the next fifteen minutes the exchanges were midfield and if anything it was the visitors who gained the advantage and pressured the home side’s half, only to be met by a up to the task Phoenix defence who matched the defensive know-how of the visitors.
Coming into the last ten and the home side seemingly in control, Phoenix were then guilty of mad moments which saw uncharacteristic traits such as palming the ball back to now one and not playing the percentages which surely would have eased the coaching staff and home crowd’s heart rates. Thus, with seven minutes to go the visitors mounted attack on the left which saw the home side stretched posting the ball right for the winger to touch down in the right corner and a Southern glimmer of hope 18-8.
Worse was yet to come when from the resulting restart Chiswick collected and immediately opted to run again, again breaching a bemused home defence and again spin right to reduce the margin to an attainable deficit of 18-13.
With four minutes left from the re-start Phoenix put the ball into the visitors half and this time the defence was strong -despite Chiswick attempts to repeat their previous two sorties – and held on to take the prize of a trip to the visitors home patch and home euphoria ensued.
On the day Phoenix were up against worthy opponents and it is to home credit and tenacity that they were the first side to record a ‘w’ against Rugby World’s February team of the month inflicting their first defeat of the season and proof of the strength of the Yorkshire leagues which see Phoenix play Castleford at Twickenham and also share support for fellow Doncaster side Wheatley Hills who progressed to their Senior Vase Final.
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