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Injury Hit Gosford Disappoint Against Phoenix RFC
10th Oct 09 - Gosford All Blacks 15 vs 27 Phoenix
Report by Rob Eynon

Gosford entertained a lively Phoenix RFC on a pleasant day at Stratfield Brake.

Gosford entertained a lively Phoenix RFC who soon forced the home side to give away a penalty in the opening minutes and full back Jason Townsend duly obliged with the kick (0-3) The following three scrums to Gosford were all lost against the head as the home side pack failed to settle down and vital possession was lost. Gosford did then contest well down the right and were rewarded as No8 Liam Beesley went on a run down the tramlines and gave young hooker Tom Heydon the scoring pass at the flag to put the home side into a narrow lead (5-3) Due to problems at scrum half Elliott Newell was called upon to move in from the left wing to take over after only 18minutes. The lead exchanged hands after scrummage near the Gosford line which saw opposing No8 Watkins forcing his way over for an unconverted try (5-8) Joel Walker substituted on the left wing. Gosford were temporarily lifted when after good work by prop Dave Brogan saw Elliott Newell feed inside centre Harry Sutton on the 22 who brushed aside three Phoenix defenders to score and put Gosford in the lead at the break (10-8)

Three minutes into the second half saw Joel Walker collect a Phoenix kick and but unfortunately his sliced clearance kick went straight to the waiting arms of Phoenix winger Andy McMillan who rattled over to score and Jason Townsend converted to regain their lead (10-15)to Phoenix. This appeared to be the turning point of the match as the Gosford morale wilted although lock Max Burbidge was winning the majority of the lineouts and the Gosford pack were beginning to dominate as the injured Eugene Griffin gave way to the forceful Alex Webb in the back row. Gosford still lacked good quality ball as the set pieces were not channelled properly and the deputising scrum half Elliott Newell received very little protection resulting in any possession being poorly distributed due to great pressure from the visitors. This allowed more possession to the visitors where centre Laidler found the room to sneak in a try wide out (10-20) and later Phoenix followed up with a second Adam McMillan try which Jason Townsend converted to extend the visitors lead at (10-27). In true Gosford spirit they did not give up in the remaining 10 minutes as first Harry Sutton went through several players and put in a neat chip ahead and seemed to go over for a great try near the posts and then was pulled back for an unexplained infringement, but from an ensuing quickly taken tap penalty Elliott Newell darted over for an unconverted try to reduce the arrears. Gosford strived up to the final whistle but it was all too little to late as they had not capitalised on their chances and had made too many mistakes and wrong options.

FINAL SCORE GOSFORD ALL BLACKS RFC 15 -v- PHOENIX RFC 27

Gosford Man of the Match - Dan Hughes - got through a tremendous amount of work.

Team and comments of UPB

1) Tony Baughan - Solid scrummaging - very little in the loose this week
2) Tom Heydon - Lost a total of 5 strikes but redeemed himself with a good try.
3) Dave Brogan - Needs to be a lot more mobile but applied good work that led to second try.
4) James Stepney - Added weight in the pack but still a gentle giant.
5) Max Burbidge - Won some very good lineout ball - still not seen the best of this player.
6) Eugene Griffin - Griff motivates and is always in the thick of any melee - gave way at the break to Alex Webb
7) Dan Hughes - Todays man of the match for the above reasons.
8) Liam Beesley - Set up first try - needs to be now used as a prime catcher in the lineouts.

9) Merlin L-P - Lasted robustly for only 18minutes but gave up the ghost and was replaced by Elliott Newell
10) James Holburn - Tried hard whilst receiving a slow and short service from the base that wasn`t always accurate.
11) Elliott Newell - Gosford`s normal match winner who was forced to deputise at scrum half - good opportunist try.
12) Harry Sutton - Great with ball in hand, must curb tendency to chip kick too often - defensive work excellent. Nice try in 1st half
13) Dan Thiele - What a tackler and added to this made several incisive runs.
14) Tim Symons - A very pleasing first team debut.
15) Matt Glithero - Inclined to hang onto the ball when support was there but it was his first game of the season for 1st team.

16) Mark Wittett - Always a solid performer but only had a few moments on the park.
17) Joel Walker - Plenty of enthusiasm but was forced to play out of position.18) Alex Webb - Threw himself into it after returning from injury when he replaced Eugene Griffin.

These are only my views and not that of your coaches - but we do need to rely on a regular kicker in order stamp our authority in future matches and improve the points difference.

Mike Rhymes
GABRFC
UPB