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This was a sweet afternoon for Stags who avenged two heavy defeats against Tows last season with a clear and deserved victory.
Stags were solid and workmanlike and though Tows appeared significantly inferior to last season you can only play as well as your opponents let you—and Stags were effective in shutting out the visitors almost entirely.
The home side started well; first Glen Carson was only a few yards short and then only desperate defence held up a maul on the try line. Eventually the pressure told, an incisive break by Selim Sheik allowing him to give a scoring pass to Simon Orange, who had a fine game throughout, Damien Whales converting for 7-0.
Towcester hit back and after they had missed a fairly straightforward penalty, drew level after a line out catch and drive. This set-back did not deter Stags who began finding holes in the visitors defence in midfield; from one of these attacks Charlie Cook dotted down for his third try of the season, the conversion making it 14-7 at half time.
Stags carried on where they had left off, their pressure compelling Tows to infringe. Whales kicked the resulting two penalties, bringing him to 50 points for the season, and at 20-7 there was daylight between the sides. Though Tows had a fair share of the ball, they could not get past determined tackling and chasing and were reduced to kicks ahead which Stags dealt with comfortably.
When Tows did look like scoring in the dying minutes, Simon Witheford brought off a try saving tackle, exemplifying the determination which Stags had brought to the whole game.
15 Stags made the trip to Towcester with 13 managing to find the venue in time for kick-off. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Stags scored two quick tries both from out-wide. When the numbers evened up Stags continued to dominate in the Backs whenever clean ball was secured by the pack. A breakaway try on their 5 metre line from an uncontested scrum led to the Towcester points early in the second half but Stags regrouped and continued to play good rugby all round. Notable performances from centre/wing Dan Till whose strong straight running led to two well deserved tries, Ed Curtis returning to Stags after a season long absence playing out of position at flyhalf and Jon Haldane who put in a couple of big hits from the re-start. However, it was an excellent team effort that gave the 3rds back-to-back wins.
Three incidents were good enough to warrant the Furby award:
1. Czech Dave's (what is his last name?) swandive over the tryline only to drop the ball was the only blemish in his solid performance at Centre.
2. CD's dreadful knock-on (playing at scrum half) from the first line out (not mentioning my head-in-the-sand scrummaging at flanker which gifted Tows their try)
3. Padre's hissy fit late in the second half after the ref missed another Tows forward coming in at the side at a ruck.
I think it should be opened up for a vote. Do you agree Spenny and Padre?
Team: Sean Richardson, Mike Stimpson, Jon Haldane, Patrick Goldsworthy, Peter O'Connor, Ray Janes, Chris Durrant, Spencer Burgess, Stuart Gradage, Ed Curtis, Sam Barnard, Czech Dave, Andy Demsie, Dan Till, Paul Lawrence.
Scorers : Dan Till x2, Czech Dave, Sam Barnard, Paul Lawrence
Conversions : Stuart Graddage x2
Man of the Match: Dan Till
