Old Haileyburians RFC 1XV vs Eagles Senior 1XV

Recap

The game was played in driving wind and rain and Haileybarians had the elements in the first half. Effingham started brightly retaining possession and moving up the field but any lost possession meant that the experienced home sides fly half kept probing the ball into the corners of the pitch forcing Effingham to run it out into the elements. The pressure told from a resultant scrum 5 metres out which saw haileybarians cleverly use the blind side where the winger stepped off his right foot, wrong footing the despairing efforts of flanker Tom Hughes and skipper Matt Manning to plunge over. Further home team pressure resulted in 2 kicked penalties to make the half time score 11 – 0.

The 11 point deficit was well within Effinghams grasp but Haileybarians upped their game with their forwards punching up close to the breakdown and the number 8 making big bursts up the middle. They camped within the away sides 22 and on 3 occasions were inches from scoring but brave last ditch tacking kept them at bay. The pressure resulted in a penalty to extend their lead to 14.

Effingham then had a period of pressure but a combination of stern defence and inexperienced decision making meant that they never put together any periods of sustained pressure within the 22 and indeed haileybarians managed to have the final say when they dotted down for a try under the sticks which was converted.