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| Brighton 2 |
| League, Home |
| 4th April 2009 |
| Won 23-19 |
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| Starting 15 |
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| 1 |
Porty |
| 2 |
Monkey |
| 3 |
Scrabble |
| 4 |
Horse |
| 5 |
Ali |
| 6 |
Mooey |
| 7 |
Bosh |
| 8 |
Roland |
| 9 |
Jez |
| 10 |
Tim |
| 11 |
SOAP |
| 12 |
Dan |
| 13 |
Chemist |
| 14 |
Aaron |
| 15 |
Yids |
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| Impact Players |
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| 16 |
ITinTin |
| 17 |
ChiChi |
| 18 |
Manville |
| 19 |
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| 20 |
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| 21 |
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| 22 |
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The Norfolk thrilled their home crowd with a hard fought and
gutsy win over Brighton 2nd and the game was every bit as entertaining as the
score line suggests.
It was the visitors who enjoyed a flying start scoring from a backs move which
created space for their winger to score near the posts. It was poor reactions
to quick lineouts or formation changes which gave the early advantage and the
second placed team in the league exploited a blind-side gap to score again from
the restart to go 12-0 up. Perhaps complacency crept in after such an early
lead but the Norfolk pack went to work getting us back into the game. To this
end the entire pack was magnificent, the front five dominated the set piece and
took several scrums and lineouts against the head whilst the back row of
Hodson, White and Laker won turnovers and penalties and carried the ball into
the heart of the opposition. McMichael got the first points of the afternoon
with his second attempt at goal and pressure began to build with robotham
bundled into touch on one occasion and Robinson dropping the ball in sight of
the line, a position he would normally score from. The Norfolk profited from
this pressure thanks to a penalty try after quick thinking from Jez Stewart saw
him tackled as he took a tap penalty five metres from the line. To come back
from such a bad start and end the half 12-10 down was an achievement which
demonstrated the character this team has built over the year, the defence was
first class with man of the Match Mike Slator making several shuddering hits
and his centre partner Dan Robinson ripping the ball on more than one occasion.
The second half began at fever pitch, Iain White took the restart and McMichael
cleared but it was good chasing from Robotham which led to a Norfolk lineout.
Tim Laker kicked superbly out of hand and put several kicks in behind to gain
territory, a god ploy considering the pack were stealing every lineout against
the throw. McMichael had a chance to take the lead but sent the kick just wide
but Brighton were unable to get a handle on discipline and he was given another
chance minutes later when a Brighton player was sent to the sin-bin for
repeatedly killing the ball. (13-12)Pete Hoare caught the kick off following
the successful penalty and from the ensuing ruck Matt Laker passed to Ali Hoare
who dummied past 1 defender and passed the ball on to White. The last defender
did very well as White took the contact and tried to offload, the defender
knocked the ball down and prevented a score from Mcgloughlin who was free in
space had the pass gone to hand. McMichael hit another penalty to extend the
lead and Hodson used his unusual body angle to burrow over from a driven
lineout. Brighton hit back just before their player came out of the sin-bin and
converted to set up an exciting finish but the Norfolk closed out the game with
a final lineout win and Stewart hammering the ball into touch.
Picking a man of the match was tough this week as so many people played well
and every player made an impact on the game. We look forward to our last league
game against Barns Green on 18th of April. |
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