Match Report - Sat 02/01/2010

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Old Streetonians   8
Datchworth   7

Datchworth went into this replay with some expectation having dominated the brief 10 minute encounter in October. However, some scrappy rugby was played by both sides, with possession swinging to and fro between the two sides, and early on Datchworth infringed repeatedly giving away numerous penalties.

The Villagers managed to regain territory but two penalty attempts were missed before Streetonians themselves took the lead with a penalty to make it 3-0 at the end of an otherwise uneventful half.

After the restart, Datchworth had the lion's share of the possession, although poor execution cost them valuable points. Amidst this, Chris Marchant made some good line breaks linking in with the backs effectively.

Streetonians scored against the run of play with a missed first up tackle by centre Ian Reid allowing a well worked backs move to materialise. The defence reacted, but good finishing put Streetonians 8-0 in front.

Datchworth pressed hard but were wasteful with their chances, again sloppy execution saw 8 out of 9 chances spilled by players out wide.

More penalties, mainly from offside decisions, cost Datchworth yet more ball although they were strong in the set piece and were able to regain possession on every occasion.

Marchant broke through with 10 minutes to go, and after a useful run offloaded to number 8 Mark Holgate who finished under the posts. Tarsey converted to make it 8-7.

Datchworth pushed for more points in the dying minutes but didn’t create any more scoring opportunities.

Datchworth had the right mindset, and it could be said deserved the win more than their opponents as they played a more creative and expansive game, but mistakes by both sides made for some dismal rugby. Datchworth go home disappointed to have spurned their chances as Streetonians managed to cling on to the lead.